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I UJ^ITEl) STATES OF AMERICA. ^ 



IPiablic InstrTiction iii. Sardinia. 



AN ACCOUNT 



SYSTEM OF EDUCATIOI, 



AND OF THE 



INSTITUTIONS OF SCIENCE AND ART, 



KINGDOM OF SARDINIA. 



By VINCENZO BOTTA. 



PROFESSOR OP ITALIAN LITERATURE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF N. T. 




[From Barnard's American Journal of Education. 



F. C. BROWNELL: HARTFORD, 

1858. 



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The following article on I'ublic Instruction in Sardinia 
was prepared by Prof. Botta, for publication in the American 
Journal of Education, at the request of the Editor, and appeared 
in the numbers for June, September and December, 1857. 

The writer was formerly a member of the Parliament of Sar- 
dinia, and was long connected with the department of Public In- 
struction, as professor of Philosophy in the colleges of that country. 
In connection with another member of the House of Deputies, (Dr. 
Luigi Parola,) he published in 1851, in Turin, an elaborate trea- 
tise of 1020 pages, on " Public Education in Germany " which is 
regarded as one of the best works on that subject. The following 
account will be read with interest, by all those engaged in educa- 
tional pursuits, as well as by those, who consider Sardinia as the 
representative of the national rights and interests of Italy. 

H. B. 

Hartford, Conn., December 10, 1857. 



CONTENTS. 



IV. 
V. 



PoBLio Instruction in Sardinia, . 
Primary Instruction, 

Infant Asylums, .... 

Common or Elementary Schools, 

Inferior, ..... 
Superior, .... 

Adult, 

Normal Schools for training teachers, 
Government, ..... 

Secondary Instruction, 

Classical Schools, .... 

Public Latin Schools, 

Royal Colleges, .... 

National colleges. 

Programme of studies, . 

Method, . . . - 

Discipline, .... 

Statistics, .... 

Direction and Supervision, 
Technical and Special Schools, . 

Special courses in National Colleges, . 
Royal Technical Institute at Turin, 
Other Special Schools at Turin, 
Other Special Schools at Genoa. 
Other Special Schools at Chambery eu, 
Ecclesiastical Seminaries, 
Provident and Reformatory Institutions, 
Examination for University, 
Authors used in secondary schools, 
Superior Instruction, .... 

Universities, .... 

University of Turin, .... 

Faculties or Departments. 1. Theology. 2. Jurisprudence. 3. Medicine 
and Surgery. Hospitals, Asylums, and Dispensaries. 4. Belles-Lettres 
and Philosophy. 5. Physical Sciences and Mathematics. Engineers, 
Arckitefts, Surveyors, S^c, ....... 33-45 

Royal College of the Provinces, . • • • .46 

Statistics, .....••-. 46 

Institutions associated with the University of Turin, . . .47 

1. Public Libray. 2. Anatomical Theatre. 3. Pathological Museum. 
4. Chemical Laboratories and Ampitheatre. 5. Botanic Garden. 6. Cab- 
inet of Physical Apparatus. 7. A.stronomical Ob.servatory. 8. Hydrau- 
lic Building. 9. Zoological Museum. 10. Mineriilogical Museum. 11. 
Museum of Antiquities. 12. Egyptian Museum. . . . 47-50 

General Direction and Supervision of Public Instruction, . . .50 

Budget of the Department op Public Instruction, ■ . ■ . 52 





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10 


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11 




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13 




. 13 




14 




. 15 




15 




. 15 




15 




. 16 




17 




. 24 




25 




. 25 




26 




. 26 




27 




27 




. 27 




27 




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29 




. 80 




31 




. 32 




32 




. 32 



8 



CONTENTS. 



TI. Ikbtitctions to promote Scienob AMD Artb, .53 

Royal Academy of Sciences. Royal Military Academy. First General 
Corps of the Army. School of Artillery. Royal Armory. Royal Library. 
Archives of State. Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery. Royal 
Academy of Fine Arts. Philharmonic Academy of Turin. Philodra- 
matic Academy. Caccia's College. Royal Committees for the progress of 
Sciences, Letters, and Arts. Royal Academy of Agriculture. The Agri- 
cultural Association. Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce. . 53-61 
VII. The Press, .......... 61 

\T;n. Educational Press, and Scholastic Books, ..... 61 

IX. Antonio Robmini as a Philosopher and Educator, . . . .66 

X. An Act organizing the Administration of Pubic Instruction, fabbid Febru- 
ary, 1857, 69 

Remarlis on the law of 1857, . i . r t < . 78 



EDUCATION 

IN THE 

niGDOM OF SAEDHIA. 



The system of public instruction in Sardinia embraces three degrees 
or departments, viz. : I. Primary Instruction. II. Secondary Instruc- 
tion. III. Superior Instruction. 

I. Primary Instruction. 

The department of primary instruction includes the infant asylums and 
the common schools, both inferior and superior, for boys and girls. 

Infant Asylums. — The first infant asylum in Sardinia was founded in 
Turin in 1825, by private benevolence. Since 1841, these institutions 
have rapidly increased under the direction of private individuals and 
associations, and they now number eighty, and contain about ten thou- 
sand children of both sexes, who are gratuitously admitted, instructed 
and fed ; they are brought to the school early in the morning, and taken 
home late in the evening. They are admitted at the age of two years, 
and can remain in the asylum until they reach the age of six or seven. 

The programme of instruction consists of three parts, corresponding to 
the three classes into which the pupils are divided. In the first class 
they are taught to pronounce their own names, to recite the Lord's 
Prayer, the Ave Maria, and the first part of the catechism. They are 
also taught numeration, with the simplest problems of mental arithme- 
tic, with mechanical illustrations ; the first nine numeral figures, the 
names of portions of the human body and of other objects adapted to 
their comprehension. They read the vowels and the simplest syllabic 
combinations. In the second clciss the teaching of prayers and of the 
catechism is continued, with sacred narratives ; more advanced exercises 
in arithmetic, written and mental, are given, syllables are continued, en- 
tire words read, and names of various productions of nature and art are 
learned. In the third class the studies of the preceding classes are con- 
tinued and amplified, with the addition of sacred history, rudiments of 
fractions, the tables of weights and measures, reading and composition of 
phrases, singing, and gymnastic exercises. 

The infant asylums are sustained entirely by private subscriptions, by 
subsidies from the municipalities, or by donations from other charitable 
institutions. The government has the right of inspection and some de- 
gree of direction. The teachers, who for the most part are women, are 
required to have the certificate of capacity from the appointed authorities. 

' Prof. Botta is the author, hi connection with Dr. Parola, of an elaborate treatise on Pubiic 
Instruction in Germany,— " Del Publico Insegnamento in Germania. Turin, 1851. 1022 pp 

2 



10 PRIMARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

Common Schools. — In 1 772, a decree was published establishing pri- 
mary scliools, but with the sole object of preparing boys for the Latin 
schools, and they M^ere strictly confined to the study of the first elements 
of the Italian language. The occupation of Sardinia by the republican 
government of France, at the close of the last century, gave a decided 
impulse to popular instruction. Every township was compelled to estab- 
lish a common school for boys, in order to give to them instruction in 
reading, writing, and in the first elements of Italian, Latin, and French 
grammar. But on the restoration of the former government in 1814, all 
the laws and provisions which had been made were abolished, and pub- 
lic education was again entirely neglected, and regarded as revolutionary 
and dangerous. After the revolution of 1821, an attempt was made to 
reestablish the public schools, and a decree was issued by which all the 
chief boroughs, and, as far as possible, all the townships were obliged to 
support free schools for teaching children reading, writing, ai'ithmetic, 
christian doctrine, and the elements of the Italian language ; but owing 
to the suspicions of the government and to the inability of its officers, 
this decree was neutralized, and little progress was made. 

Meanwhile in all the countries of Europe pedagogical questions had 
assumed a new importance, and were treated in their social and political 
aspects by men of the highest ability. In Sardinia the opposition of the 
Jesuits to the infant asylums and popular schools had united all the lib- 
erals, who considered the education of the people as the first step toward 
independence, and who labored for it with all the enthusiasm that love 
of country and love of freedom could inspire. Under their combined 
influence, the government was obliged to make many provisions for the 
improvement and the extension of popular schools, and in 1844, estab- 
lished at Turin the first normal school for the education of teachers, 
which was soon followed by others in different cities. 

The constitution granted in 1848 to the Sardinian states by Charles 
Albert, began a new era in the progress of the country, and securing po- 
litical freedom, produced a happy necessity of a new and better system 
of public education. It pi'eparcd the way for the law published in the 
same year, which again provided for a free school in every township, and 
furnished a new programme and better methods for popular instruction. 

According to this organization the common schools are divided into 
the inferior and superior. Each township is obliged to establish and sup- 
port at least one inferior school ; and none can establish a Latin school 
if it has not provided for a superior common school. 

The Ixfekior Common Schools are divided into two classes, each of 
which has a course of onff year. In the first year the children arc 
taught spelling, reading, exercises of nomenclature from the first read- 
ing book, vowels and syllables first copied from the slate, and after- 
ward written from dictation; numeration and calculation on the nu- 
meral frame, figures as high as one hundred; geometrical definitions 
and the drawing of right and curved lines, circles, and polygons, the 
fiirst part of the catechism, and narratives from sacred history. In 
the second year the pupils receive instruction in the Italian language, the 



PRIMARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. H 

first parts of speech and the conjugation of the verbs ; they pass to the sec- 
ond reading book, into exercises in Itahan, and go through the simplest 
rules of arithmetic with numbers as high as ten thousand. They con- 
tinue the study and drawing of geometrical figures, plain and solid, the 
measure of squares and rectangles, parallelograms and triangles ; exer- 
cises in the catechism and sacred history. 

The Sardinian states contain a population of about five millions. The 
Continental Kingdom is divided into 39 provinces, which are subdivided 
into 2720 townships. In these in 1848, there were 3829 inferior pubhc 
schools; and in 1856, 5622. The island of Sardinia has a population of 
448,112, with only 6325 pupils in the elementary schools. 

The number of private inferior schools is four hundred and ninety ; the 
cost of the public inferior schools exceeds two millions of francs, of 
which one million and a half is given by the townships for the sup- 
port of their own schools, and the remainder by private donations or 
charitable institutions. The government gives about 125 thousand 
francs, to be divided among the poorer townships. The townships are 
obliged to tax themselves for the support of their schools, and if they 
fail in this, the government itself imposes upon them the necessary tax. 

The teachers of these schools number about six thousand. They are 
appointed by the municipalities subject to the approbation of the scholas- 
tic authorities ; from which they must receive the certificate of capacity. 
Their salaries are difierent according to the different townships in which 
they are appointed. 

The Primary Superior Schools complete the system of popular 
instruction. They are divided also into two courses of one year each, so that 
a complete course occupies four years. These schools have all been or- 
ganized since 1848. Though there is no obligation upon the townships 
to establish the superior schools, yet in 1856, we find 239 of these insti- 
tutions sustained entirely by them. 

In the first year of the superior school the pupils are instructed in the 
third part of the catechism, the continuation of sacred history, the analy- 
sis of propositions, definitions of analyzed objects, short compositions 
of narratives and letters, exercises in caligraphy, measures of cubes, 
parallelopipeds, prisms, and pyramids, the drawing of circles and of 
curves used in drawing solids, and the study of the map of the world ; 
the division of the earth, a general knowledge of Europe, a particular 
knowledge of Italy, especially of Sardinia ; calculation of decimal frac- 
tions, and the legal system of weights and measures. In tTie second 
year the instruction in the catechism is concluded ; sacred history con- 
tinued with the history of the church, syntax of phrases and periods, 
and grammatical rules applied to the works of some of the Italian class- 
ical writers, narratives from the history of Italy ; the measure of spheres, 
cones and cylinders, the principal figures of geometry ; the particular 
geography of Europe, the elements of physical science applied to the 
uses of life, to agriculture and industry, and to the explanation of the 
principal phenomena of nature. 

Inferior and Superior Priiiart Schools for Girls. — Under the ab- 



12 PRIMARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

solute government the education of women was not only entirely neglect- 
ed, but considered superfluous and even dangerous. Before 1848, there 
were no institutions of learning for the daughters of the people, and 
those of the aristocracy received in the nunneries only a limited degree 
of instruction, pernicious in its elfects and immoral in many of its re 
suits. After that time, the schools for the education of girls rapidly mul- 
tiplied, and in 1856 the number of inferior schools exceeded 2792, and 
the superior 65. Besides these, there were many private schools estab- 
lished to counteract the influence of the nunneries. Since 1848, all the 
schools and the nunneries regarded as schools, have been submitted to 
the control of the government, and the teachers obliged to pass an exami- 
nation from its officers and to obtain their certificate. 

In the inferior schooU for girls they are taught reading, writing, the ele- 
ments of arithmetic and of the Italian language, and the catechism. In the 
superior, writing, grammar, domestic book-keeping, composition, geog- 
raphy, ancient and modem history, and christian doctrine. 

The teachers are divided into three classes : — instructresses, teachers 
properly so called, and assistants. The two former are obliged to pa.ss 
an examination before a committee appointed by the government. Since 
1850, many municipalities and private associations have founded normal 
schools for the preparation of able teachers of the schools for girls. 
Custom, if not law, prescribes men for instructors of boys, and women 
for girls ; the only exception to this rule is in the infant asylums. 

There are also pojmlar schools for adults supported by the municipal- 
ities or by private philanthropy. They are open for the day, the eve- 
ning, or on Sunday, and are either elementary or superior. In the first 
they are taught reading, writing, Italian, arithmetic, and the system of 
weights and measures. We find these elementary schools in almost all 
the townships of the average population. The superior schools of this 
class are found in the larger towns and cities, and their course of instruc- 
tion includes Italian grammar, constitutional rights and duties, civil laws 
most in practical use, geography and history, domestic and rural econ- 
omy, public and private hygiene, arithmetic applied to industry and 
commerce, book-keeping, the principles of geometry applied to agri- 
culture, arts and trades, linear drawing, and the elements of natural 
sciences. 

In regard to the method of teaching in the primary schools, the teach- 
ers are desired to follow the laws of the development of the human mind. 
In the best schools the method of Pestalozzi is adopted, which rests on 
the following basis : — 1st. Religion, the universal principle, and common 
to all the branches of education. 2d. Morals and logic, the prominent 
principle of method. 3d. Education of man considered in his totality, 
and harmonious nature. 4th. Full development of the faculties, peculiar 
dispositions and individualities of each pupil. 5th. Union and order of 
the faculties and of the different departments of learning. 6th. Method 
of education aniiTaly positive. 7th. Intuition, principal basis and means 
of instruction. 8th. Gradation of all the branches of education. 9th. 



PRIMARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. I3 

Union of the elements of both domestic and puVjlic education. 10th. 
Human life considered as essential and universal means of education. It 
is also recommended to the teachers to lead their pupils to self-instruc- 
tion, to avoid every thing which can overcharge and confuse their mem- 
ory, and to aid them in the gradual development of their faculties. Inter- 
nal perception and observation ought to precede the analysis of the objects 
which arc to be taught ; reading and writing ought to be considered as 
means, not as an object of instruction ; language as expression of human 
thought, and arithmetic as expression of human reasoning ; the passage 
from the simplest and easiest ideas to more complex and difficult ones is 
considered as the fundamental principle of pedagogy. 

NoKMAL Schools. — These are called schools of method, as their object 
is to teach the method of instruction. The first school of this class was 
founded in 1844, for those who were afterward to become professors of 
method and to preside over schools for teachers. This school belongs to the 
university of Turin, and we shall speak of it elsewhere. In 1845 special 
schools for teachers were established in the principal cities of the king- 
dom, and their course is limited to the three months of autumnal vaca- 
tions. They are in/erior and Hv/periryr as they give instruction to the 
teachers of these different classes. In the inferior schools of method 
there are three courses given by a professor and by two assistants ; the 
former teaches method, the latter the objects of primary instruction. The 
teachers who have not yet obtained the certificate of capacity are obliged 
to attend these schools, and after their course to pa.ss an examination. — 
The superior schools were first opened in 1850; they last four months 
and give an instruction appropriate to their object. Since 1845 about 150 
of these temporary schools have been opened. The professors are appointed 
by the government, under whose direction and control these schools are. 
They are supported however by tlie provinces and townships, the local 
authorities of which have desired their establishment in the districts. 

"VYe find also in many cities schools of method for instruction of the 
teachers of girls ; they are entirely supported by tho municipal authorities. 
Their programme is different in different cities, extending in some only 
through three or four months, in others during the year, and one in 
Turin has a course of three years. 

The cost of all the primary instruction, inferior and superior, including 
the schools of method, was in the year 1856, of 3,557,212 francs. The 
whole number of pupils in the winter of the same year was 343,227 or 
233,540 boys and 139,687 girls; and in the summer 120,520 boys, and 
79,025 giris. 

GovEKSMEXT OF THE Pkimaky Schools. — All the schools which we 
have now described are directed, under the authority of the minister of 
public instruction, by a general Board of elementary education, by pro- 
vincial Boards, inspectors and local superintendents. The general Board 
is presided over by the general inspector of the normal schools and of the 
primary instruction, and is composed of the following members, taken from 
the university of Turin. 1. Professor of method. 2. Proft-s.sor of 



£4 PRIMARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA 

philosophy. 3, Professor of belles-lettres. 4. Professor of rHathematics. 
5. Professor of natural sciences. 6. Professor of religion, in the national 
college of the same city. To this Board belongs the general direction of 
all the primary and normal schools of the kingdom, and under their au- 
thority, provincial boards are instituted in all the provinces. These are 
composed of the ro3^al superintendent of the province, of the superin- 
tendent of education in the province, of the provincial inspector of the pri- 
mary instruction, of two professors of the college of the city, of a normal 
teacher, and of two members of the provincial council. These provincial 
boards, the inspectors, and the local superintendents, who reside in all the 
central townships, form the connecting link between the schools of the 
townships, the jirovinces, and the central authority. 

No one can teach in the primary schools, either public or private, 
without a certificate of competency from the government, given on the 
authority of a special committee appointed to examine the students of 
Uie normal schools. The government upon the nomination of the gene- 
ral board appoints the provincial inspectors, whose salary however is paid 
by the provinces. The municipalities nominate the teachers of their schools 
from among those who received the certificate of capacity ; but the ap- 
pointment to be valid must be confirmed by the provincial board. 

It is unnecessary to enter into any criticism of the primary and normal 
schools of Sardinia; the system introduced in 1848 must be considei'ed 
as a decided improvement upon the former institutions, and the country 
during the short period since its establishment has been greatly benefit- 
ed. Yet experience has proved the system defective in some points, and 
the liberal party of the country is earnestly engaged in preparing new 
reforms, which are required by the conditions of the people. Among 
these reforms it is proposed : 

1st. To reduce the administration to a more simple system; and the 
Pailiament had recently under consideration a new bill to this eff"ect.* 
2d. To enforce the obligation of parents to send their children to school — 
as in the present system there is great negligence in this respect, and it is 
considered as a necessary step for securing the free institutions of the 
country, to provide by legal force for the education of the people. 3d. To 
establish better normal schools, with a course of two years for the teach- 
ers of the inferior school, and of three years for the teachers of the supe- 
rior school. 4th. To declare teachers functionaries of the state, and after 
having taught for thirty years to be provided with a competent pension 
for the remainder of their lives. 5th. To increase the salaries of the 
teachers, so as to enable them to devote themselves entirely to their pro- 
fession. 6th. To oblige the townships to establish not only inferior, 
but superior schools both for boys and girls ; besides Sunday and evening 
schools for the adults. 

II. Secondary Instruction. 

The secondary schools are divided into the classical and teahni- 

* See page 69, for recent revision of Sohool System. 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. J 5 

eal. In the former the students are taught the ancient and modern 
languages and hteratures, and the elements of philosophy and science, 
as a preparation for the studies of the university. In the latter the 
elementary course of instruction is continued, and the students prepared 
for the exercise of the different professions, for which the university 
makes no special provision. 

Secondary Classical Schools. — To this department of instruction be- 
long, — 1st, The Public Latin ScJiooIs. 2d, The Eoyal Colleges. 3d, 
The National Colleges. 

Public Latin Schools — are those in which, without being supported 
by the government, a part or the whole of the Latin course is given with 
the course of philosophy and science. They are also called munici2]al 
colleges, and are complete when their programme embraces besides the 
four classes of the primary school, three courses of Latin grammar, two of 
rhetoric, and two of philosophy. They are incomplete.^ if the courses of 
rhetoric, or even of philosophy are omitted. The municipal colleges, either 
complete or incomplete, are supported by the municipalities, but the 
professors and teachers are appointed by the government, which directs 
their instruction, inspects their schools, prescribes their programmes and 
text-books, and has the general control of them. These and especially 
the incomplete schools under the absolute government were multiplied in 
every township, and for a long time took the place of popular schools. 
They have always been of a very low standard and sustained only to 
keep alive the prejudices of the peasants, who believed that a knowledge 
of Latin was the highest attainment of wisdom, and by the interest of the 
clergy, who found in these schools the pupils for their seminaries. In 
1850, there were yet 118 inferior Latin schools, of which only 14 gave a 
full course of grammar. There were besides 47 incomplete colleges, in 
which two courses of rhetoric were given, and in a few of them a partial 
course of philosophy. Since that time a great number of these incom- 
plete schools were abolished, and primary superior schools substituted 
for them. 

RoYAii Colleges. — In every principal city thei'e is a royal college, sup- 
ported by the government, with the exception of the Latin inferior classes, 
in which the salaries of the teachers are paid by the municipality. The 
constitution of 1848 found six of these royal colleges in the hands of the 
Jesuits, viz.: one of the colleges of Turin, one of Genoa, the colleges of 
Nice, of Novara, of Voghera, of Chambery. In that year the Jesuits 
having been expelled from the country, the government organized those 
colleges according to a new system, upon which afterward all the royal 
colleges were organized, and called them national. 

National Colleges. — The improvements introduced by these institu- 
tions are felt in all branches of public instruction. They have pro- 
longed the course of primary schools from two to four years, introduced 
into the system the superior course and improved the inferior. They 
have also improved the programme and the method of classical instruc- 
tion, simplified the philosophical and scientific course, and organized a 



IQ SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

new system of examination. While in the former colleges the instruc- 
tion was given by eight or nine teachers, in the new ones the programme 
is carried out by fifteen or twenty professors, whose condition was bet- 
tered by the new organization. 

The course of Latin Orammar is of three years, and it is divided into 
three parts, over each of which presides a professor. No one can enter 
into the first part of the course without having passed an examination on 
the subjects of the highest primary course. The promotion from a part 
of one course to another depends always on the result of the examination. 
The following is the programme of the grammatical course : — 

First year. — Continuation of the Italian grammar, the first elements 
of the Latin grammar. Sacred history and arithmetic. 

Second year. — Italian grammar, grammatical rules applied to the ex- 
planation of some selected pieces of classic writers from the reader. Ele- 
ments of Latin grammar continued. Sacred history and arithmetic. 

Third year. — Italian grammar ; analysis of the thoughts of the classics. 
Latin grammar. Prosody. — Its application to the reading of classic writers. 
Religion. Arithmetic. Roman and Greek history, and ancient geography. 

Course of Rhetoric with tn^o professors. First year. — Composition, 
explanation of the text-book of rhetoric, Greek grammar, religion, 
history, mathematics. Second year. — Different kinds of composition, 
both in prose and poetry, explanation of the text-book of rhetoric in 
connection with the compositions which are under examination. Greek 
grammar. — Its rules applied to the explanation of some selected pieces from 
the reader. Religion, history, mathematics, French language. Besides 
their own professors, the courses of grammar and rhetorics have four 
professors in common for the instruction of religion, history, and geog- 
raphy, mathematics, and modern languages. 

Course of Philosoj)hy with two professors. First year. — Logic and 
metaphj^sics, algebra, plane and solid geometry, religion, Italian and Latin 
literature. Second year. — Moral philosophy with the exposition of con- 
stitutional duties and rights, physical science, religion and natural his- 
tory ; viz.: the elements of mineralogy, zoology, botany and geology. 
This course has in common with the preceding, the professor of re- 
ligion, and besides the two professors of philosophy, has a professor of 
natural history. The lectures on Italian and Latin literature prescribed 
for the first year of this course are dehvered by one of the professors of 
rhetoric. No student is admitted to the course of philosophy before the 
age of four teen years. 

After having pursued all the collegiate courses and passed successfully 
the examination of the second year of the course of philosophy, the stu- 
dents are allowed to present themselves for examination preparatory to 
their admission to the university. This examination is conducted by va- 
rious committees, composed of professors from the university itself, and 
is scientific and literary. The first scientific examination consists of oral 
questions on logic, metaphysics, arithmetic, algebra, and geometry ; the 
second of questions on moral philosophy and physical science. The 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. l*j 

literary examination is both written and oral. The written embraces a 
Latin and Italian composition. The oral runs through the examination of 
the written compositions, and of the questions suggested by them. It con- 
sists besides of interpretation of the Latin and Italian classics, according 
to the programme, and of questions drawn from ancient and modem his- 
tory. The questions of history, logic, metaphysics, arithmetic, algebra, 
geometr}', moral philosophy and physical science, to which the candidate 
is requested to answer, are drawn from the programmes, which are pre- 
scribed by the government as guides for the lectures, to be delivered by 
the professors on the said subjects. The committee which is to preside 
over the examination of each student is also drawn by lot. 

An entire liberty is left to the professors in selecting the methods of 
their teaching. Yet the greatest care is recommended in order to regu- 
late the secondary instruction according to the laws of a rational method- 
ology. The instruction of languages and especially of Latin is considered 
as a most essential means of mental training. It is not the language in 
itself which is considered of .so great importance, but it is its eminently 
logical construction, which renders the Latin the most powerful instru- 
ment of general education. The study of this language must be directed 
in such a way as to make of it the expression of the genius and develop- 
ment of human thought. The analysis of the classic writers must give 
the interpretation of the great ideas of the Roman ages ; the explanation 
of the orators and poets must present the living image of the works of 
art, of war, of politics of the entire world, which has been under the do- 
minion of Rome. This instruction is given in three degrees through the 
courses of grammar and of rhetoric, from etymology and syntax to the 
rules of different kinds of style. The former parts are taught in the 
course of grammar, the latter in the course of rhetoric, so that the great 
rule of method is observed through all that instruction, viz.: the passage 
from the known to the unknown, from the easy to the difficult, from the 
simple to the compound. The teachers are accustomed to unite the com- 
position of easy and short sentences to the study of words in order to ren- 
der more intellectual the etymological exercises. As soon as the pupils 
begin to learn how to compose those sentences, they are taught to trans- 
late from the Latin into Italian, and from Italian into Latin ; in which ex- 
ercises the teachers are requested to take particular care in showing to 
their classes the analogy of the two languages. Learning the etymology 
and syntax in the two first years of the grammatical course especially 
by practice and experience, in the third year the students are taught the 
science of those parts of the grammar, and learn how to apply the gram- 
matical principles to the explanation and translation of the easie.st Latin 
writers, like C. Xepos, Phaedrus, the letters of Csesar, Cicero, &c. Before 
leaving the course of grammar they begin to translate Ovid, and to study 
the first elements of poetry. 

In the course of rhetoric the instruction of Latin becomes more scienti- 
fic, or rather is transformed into a study of philology and rhetoric. 
Compositions of different kinds become the task of every day ; Livy, 



18 SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

Sallust, Tacitus, the orations of Cicero, Virgil, Horace are taken for the 
daily reading, interpretation, and translation. The teachers are de- 
sired to dwell not so much on the beauties of the language, and on its 
character, as in showing the ways with which the writers unite together 
the different parts of speech, giving to their writings unity, order, and 
haniiony. 

To give more unity to this study, each professor of the grammatical 
course carries through all the course the full programme, so that the stu- 
dents passing from the first to the second part of their course, do not 
change their teacher, who follows them in their progress. The same 
thing must be said of the professors of rhetoric. While the school of 
Latin proposes to make Latin scholars, who are taught to speak and to 
write that language with purity and elegance, the school of Greek has a 
more limited object, viz.: of teaching the simple knowledge of the Greek 
writers. The method, however, of this instruction does not differ in its 
substance from that which is followed in teaching the Latin. The same 
method is applied to the Italian, which as the national language takes one 
of the most important parts in the programme of the secondary schools, 
in which the instruction of the primary course is continued and ampli- 
fied. We might say that,in the course of rhetoric, the national literature is 
studied rather than the language, which finds a complete instruction in the 
primary, superior, and grammar schools. Besides these languages, in the 
colleges generally, the pupils arc taught French, in a few German, and in 
some, the- English language. The method is left entirely to the discrim- 
ination of the teachers. 

Mathematics form another branch of study which is considered of the 
most vital importance in the secondary courses. The courses of gram- 
mar return to the experimental and theoretical arithmetic, which has 
been a subject of instruction in the primary schools. But it is rather 
than mere repetition of the same study, a complement and perfection of 
elementary arithmetic, which in this course is treated not only in its de- 
termined quantities, both integral and fractionaries, but also as an expres- 
sion of undetermined quantities, giving in this way to the pupils the first 
and fundamental principles of algebra. This subject is more enlarged 
in the course of rhetoric, in which the students are taught a more direct 
application of the arithmetical principles to the ordinary uses of domes- 
tic and commercial economy, and it becomes one of the two main 
studies of the first part of the course of philosophy, in which the knowl- 
edge acquired in the preceding schools is revived and ampHfied on its 
philosophical grounds, and completed with a thorough study of alge- 
bra and of plain and solid geometry. The complete programme of mathe- 
matical study as it is developed in the secondary schools follows this or- 
der: — idea of quantity and of number; system of enumeration ; the four 
arithmetical operations on integral numbers ; their reduction, and philo- 
sophical grounds ; application of the rules to solution of problems ; the 
properties of divisibility of integral numbers ; division of numbers ; frac- 
tions, their theory and princii)les ; nature and character of fractions ; 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 19 

reduction of fractions to their simplest expression ; the greatest common 
divisor ; reduction of fractions to the same denominator. The rules of 
the first operations applied to fractions ; alone and with integral num- 
bers. Decimal fractions ; system of their construction and enunciation ; 
their addition, subtraction, multiplication, division ; reduction of an ordi- 
nary fraction to a decimal one ; periodical simple, and periodical mixed ; 
transformation of fractions into others of same value, etc. Complex num- 
bers, their addition, subtraction, multipUcation, and division. The deci- 
mal metric system, which is the legal system of weights and measures of 
the country — its relation with the systems used in other countries. Differ- 
ence between arithmetic and algebra; system of algebraical enumeration, 
main algebraical operations, rules, and their philosophical grounds.- Pow- 
ers of numbers, and their formation ; extraction of square and cubic 
roots, both of integral and fractionary numbers — equations and their 
different degrees. Solution of equations of the first and the .second de- 
gree, with one or more unknown quantities. Problems in relation with 
the theory of equations. Ratio and proportions. Properties of arith- 
metical and of geometrical proportions. Direct and inverted ratios. 
Piule of three and problems. Double rule of three. Rule of interest and 
its application to business, especially to loss and gain, to reduction of 
currencies, to fellowship, etc. Geometry is taught in the first year of the 
course of philosophy ; but before that time the pupils received the fun- 
damental ideas of that science, especially in the superior primary course. 
In the course of philosophy this teaching receives a complete develop- 
ment, in the following order. After having given the first and fundament- 
al ideas, the professor of geometry considers in his lectures straight lines 
on one and the same plane, then he explains the theories, the theorems, 
and the problems on angles, perpendicular and oblique lines on triangles, 
on parallels, on polygons, on proportional lines, on similar polygons, and 
on the area of polygons ; then proceeds to circles and straight lines on 
one and the same plane ; and undertakes to develop the theorems and to 
solve the problems on the circumferences of the circles and the straight 
lines, which have some points in common; on the measure of angles, on 
the relations of straight lines which meet in and out of the circle ; on 
regular polygons inscribed and circumscribed, and on the area of circle ; 
after which he applies the theories to the solution both by analysis and 
synthesis to the most important geometrical problems. Then comes the 
study of planes, and of spaces ended by planes; of planes meeting 
straight lines ; of dyhedron angles, of polyhedron angles, of polyhedrons 
in general, and especially of pyramid and prism, on volume of polyhe- 
dron on similar polyhedrons. Then cylinder, cone, sphere, their parts, 
properties, measure, volume of sphere, etc., and the application of the 
theories to practical problems. 

History, not less than mathematics, takes an important place in the 
programme. The fundamental ideas of geography precede the teach- 
ing of this branch, and in the course of grammar the professor is desired 
to give to his pupils a clear knowledge of the earth and of its natural 



20 SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

divisions, using in their teaching maps and drawings. In the same time 
with geography is given the instruction of history by ethnogra»phical pro- 
cess ; the basis of the historical study is laid, however, in the history of 
Rome and Greece, to which the histories of all other ancient peoples are 
in some way connected. The history of Rome especially becomes one 
of the most important objects of all the instruction, as it is the founda- 
tion not only of modern civilization, but of all the history of Italy, to 
which the attention of the pupils is directed, as to the history of their 
own nation. This is divided into different periods, from the primitive 
immigrations to modern times. After having examined the different im- 
migrations the professor considers the foundation of Rome, and follows 
its early development in religion, politics, and general civilization. Then 
he examines the causes of the Roman greatness in the republic, describ- 
ing its constitution with the modifications which were gradually intro- 
duced in it, the conquests made through a century of war, the corrup- 
tion, and the civil perturbations of the internal factions, pointing out the 
Gracchi, the war of Jugurtha, Marius and Sylla, Pompeius, Crassus, 
Caesar, Cicero, Catilina, the first triumvirate, Cesar's dictatorship, 
which brought the agony and death of the republic. The attention of 
the pupils is next directed to the rise of the Roman empire, to its progress, 
through the age of Augustus, to its decline under Tiberius, its various 
vicissitudes under the sway of the three last scions of Caesar's family, 
and of the three Flavii, their successors. Then the best century of the 
empire is considered in the times of Trajan and his successors, until the 
commencement of its dechne through many emperors from Commodus 
to the successors of Diocletian, to be restored again by Constantino, for 
some time, till it is destroyed. In perusing this period of the Roman 
history, the professor is requested to mark the different characters of the 
two civihzations, which he meets in that period, the one old and pa- 
gan, the other new and christian. The invasion of the barbarians, the 
restoration of the kingdom under the Longobards, the popes, and their 
quarrel with the dukes and kings, the fall of the Longobards, the forma- 
tion of a code of laws, which ruled for a long time all the civil nations, 
Charlemagne, and the kings sent by the emperor to rule Italy. Their 
successors form the subject of another period, and thus the period of the 
ItaUan municipalities is opened, in which so many great historical facts 
recur to the teachers. Here we find the age of Gregory VII., the first 
municipal constitutions, the crusades, the quarrels between cities, em- 
perors, and popes, the insolence of the feudal masters, the schism of the 
west, the parties which divided the entire nation. Here the programme 
takes great ami)lification on account of the history of Piedmont which as 
an individual state properly begins from this period. (1100 — 1434.) 
The professor of history is naturally called to dwell with preference on 
this part of the history of Italy, and to endeavor to give to his pupils a 
clear and thorough idea of its gradual development. He is requested 
also to describe the ages and the facts of the Visconti, Medici, of the other 
most influential famiUes, the different schisms which occurred in this 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 21 

period, and finally the civilization of this age, which in many respects 
surpassed not only the preceding but also the following periods. Next 
comes the history of the Spanish dominion over Italy, the ages of Eman- 
uel Philibert, Charles Emanuel I., Victor Amedeus II., the wars of the 
French revolution, the treaty of Campo Formio, the peace of Amiens, 
Napoleon consul and president of the Italian republic, and then emperor 
and king of Italy. The pi'ogramme is closed with a view of the treaty 
of 1815, of the partial revolutions which have taken place in Italy since 
that time, and especially the great struggle for the national independence 
in 1848-49. 

Logic, metaphysics, and geometry constitute the main studies of the 
first part of the course of philosophy. Having given before the pro- 
gramme of geometry, we will add here the oi'der of the subjects of logic 
and metaphysics, on which the professor is required to deliver his daily 
lectures. As an introduction to that study, some lectures are delivered 
on the general idea of philosophy, on its definition, division, method, 
and history. Then the teaching goes through the fundamental princi- 
ples of anthropology, as far as is necessary to prepare the minds of the 
pupils for the higher questions of logic and metaphysics. Thus a gene- 
ral description of the human faculties is given, grouping all them in three 
great divisions, of animal, intellectual, and moral. The senses, sensual 
imagination, animal instinct, intellectual perception, attention, analysis 
and synthesis, abstraction, judgment, reasoning, memory, intellectual 
imagination, will, freedom, spiritual sentiment and instinct, present so 
many different subjects of instruction, and afford the occasion of refuting 
the doctrine of the sensualist school, after which the progi'amme enters 
in logic properly so called. This is considered as the science of the art 
of reasoning. And as the object of reasoning is certitude, viz.: the cer- 
tain knowledge of truth, so logic is divided in two parts ; the first of 
which proposes to teach the essence of truth, to establish its existence, 
and to show that reasoning is the certain means to attain it ; the second 
part teaches the method of reasoning to this end. Thus after having ex- 
plained the nature of truth, the professor establishes its existence, refutes 
all scepticisms, inquiries into the supreme criterion of truth and certitude, 
distinguishes different species of certitude and settles their relative prin- 
ciples, draws the different theories of probability, and shows the nature 
of ignorance, doubt, and error, pointing out their causes and remedies. 
Entering afterward into the art of reasoning, viz.: into methodology, he dis- 
tinguishes the different species of method, inquisitive, deductive, and in- 
ductive, establishes their different nature and laws, and takes this occa- 
sion for developing the theory of argumentation, its different forms, and 
faults ; he concludes the first part of logic with the theory and rules of 
criticism and exegesis. In the second part are considered the principles 
of the didactic method, of which the laws are settled, and fixes the rules 
of division, definition, and demonstration ; finally the pupils are du'ected 
to the method of polemics, by learning the rules which ought to preside 
over every kind of disputation, academic or Socratic. 



22 SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

Metaphysics are divided into three parts ; psychology, cosmology, and 
theology. In the first is considered the nature of the human soul, and 
its simplicity and spirituality is demonstrated by its three fundamental 
faculties. The origin of the human soul, its connection with the body, 
and its immortality form the other subjects of psychology. Cosmology 
considers the world in its ultimate reasons, and treats of the nature of 
contingent beings and of their cause, of the general order of the world, 
and establishes the general cosmic laws, to which all created beings are 
submitted. Theology is preceded by an introduction, in which are laid 
down the principles of ontology, viz.: the science which considers the 
being in its unity of essence and in its trinity of forms. This leads the 
mind to theology, in wliich the existence of God is demonstrated, his at- 
tributes described, and especially the relation of the creating act, both 
with the act of the divine essence and of the creatures themselves, is 
considered. 

In the second year of the course of philosophy the students are taught 
moral philosophy and physical science. 

The professor of moral philosophy divides his teaching in two main 
parts ; in the first of which he considers ethics in their general princi- 
ples, in the second in their application. The general ethics are divided 
in three parts, viz.: jpure nomology, i. e., the science of the supreme moral 
principle ; moral psycJiology ^ viz.: the science of man considered as a subject 
of moral obligation ; and moral logic, viz.: the science which teaches the 
art of applying moral law to man. Here we have the discussion on the 
essence of morality, of good and evil generally and especially, of moral 
law, of the supreme moral principle, and its consequences, of natural 
law, considered as innate, of its character and properties, of its pro- 
mulgation, obligation and sanction. After having given a comparative 
history of the principal moral systems which occur in the history of phi- 
losophy, the professor enters upon the exposition of the moral faculties, 
and establishes the nature of human as distinguished from moral acts and 
of moral as distinguished from free acts, and gives the theory of moral 
responsibility. In moral logic he considers especially the nature and 
origin of moral conscience, its species and rules. Then coming to the 
application he considers the principal moral formulas, which are derived 
from the supreme moral Im^yeratice, and dwells upon those, the objects 
of which are God and man. Here he discourses on religion, and reli- 
gious duties and especially on the Christian religion, considered in itself 
above all sectarian doctrines. Then comes the discussion on duties to- 
ward ourselves and our neighbors, on the duties of our own moral, intel- 
lectual, and eudaemonologic perfection, on the criterion of our duties to- 
ward our neighbors, on duties of justice, and benevolence, where the 
complete theory is given of right, its different species, its derivation, 
transmission and modification. Then the discussion on duties arising 
from society, — on society itself, and on its different species, natural, do- 
mestic and civil. In speaking of civil society, the professor is required 
to give a complete exposition of the political constitution of the country, 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 23 

and of duties, and rights arising from it. Finally the moral formulas are 
considered in the man, who executes them, in his moral habits ; and here 
a complete theory is given of moral virtue and vice, and of their species. 

Tlie programme of physical science is the following : first ijart. — Ob- 
ject of the physical science, bodies, matter, atoms, simple and compound 
bodies, constitution of bodies, general properties of bodies, natural forces 
or agents. — Statics; equilibrium of a material point. Parallel forces. 
Simple machines. Dynamics. Simple movement. Compound and uni- 
form movement. Refiexed movement. Elastic and not elastic bodies. 

Hydrostatics ; Homogeneous liquids, pressure of liquids, floating or 
immersed bodies, specific gravity, heterogeneous liquids. Hydrodynam- 
ics; Torricelli's theorem, and its different applications. Pneumatics; 
gravity of the air, barometer, elasticity of the air, Mariotti's law, elas- 
ticity of a mixture of gases. Acoustics ; velocity, intensity, echo, prop- 
erties of sounds, vibrating cords, scale, harmonious sounds, the sense of 
hearing, and of voice. Astronomy ; fundamental ideas of uranography, 
and geographj'-. Sphere, celestial globes, terrestrial globes, and geo- 
graphical maps. Apparent movement of the sun, moon, planets. Proofs 
of the truth of the system of Copernicus, Kepler's laws, precession of the 
equinoxes, the tides, general idea of the solar system, comets, peculiari' 
ties of the sun and planets ; sidereal astronomy, fixed stars, distances, 
paralax, double stars, movement of the stars, nebulous stars, milky way, 
measures of time. Second fart. — Molecular attraction ; crystallization, 
theory of Hauy — relation between the crystalline form and the atomic 
constitution of bodies, isomorphism, and bimorphism, chemical laws, 
allotropy, capillary attraction, endosmosis, molecular constitution of 
bodies, mechanical qualities of bodies. Caloric ; variation of volume 
and temperature, thermometer, common thermometer, differential ther- 
mometer, thermoscopium of Rumford, pyrometers, changes, latent and 
sensible caloric, caloric of fusion, caloric of elasticity, specific caloric, — 
method of mixtures, Lavoisier's method, method of cooling. Specific 
caloric of gases, specific caloric with a constant pressure and a constant 
volume, radiant caloric, its intensity, reflexion of caloric, reflecting power, 
diffusion of caloric, power of emission and absorption, transmitted caloric, 
termocrosis, conducted caloric, its coefficient, safety lamp. Steams and 
gases, elasticity of steams, mixture of steams and gases, density, influence 
of pressure on evaporation, ebullition, Papin's digester, eolipile, steam- 
engines, hygrometry, Saussure's hygrometer, other hygrometers, sources 
of caloric, caloric by mechanic action, molecular actions, chemical operations, 
animal heat, artificial cold, mixtures producing cold. Static electricity ; 
sources of electricity, conductors and non-conductors, electrical machines, 
attractions and repulsions, hypothesis of two fluids, electrometers, electrical 
light, electrical induction, diffusion of electricity on the superficies of 
bodies, points, accumulated electricity, Leydenjar, magic table, condensed 
electrophorus, electrical battery, lightning, lightning-rods, hypothesis of 
Franklin. Galvanism ; Experiments of Galvani and Volta, experiment of 
disks, Voltaic pile — Its theory according to Volta, chemical theory of the 



24 SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

piles, electrometers, effects of the electrical current, chemical, physic, 
and physiologic effects, electricity developed from heat, electricity in the 
crystal thermo-electrical currents, thermo-electrical piles, electricity of 
steam-engines, animal electricity. Magnetism ; General phenomena, an- 
cient hypotheses on magnetism, artificial magnetic, polarity, declination, 
inclination, and variations of the magnetic needle, compass, magnetic 
intensity. Electro-magnetism ; Ampere's theory, electro-dynamic and 
electro-magnetic forces, analogies between electro-dynamic cylinders, 
magnet, and earth, electro-dynamical state of the earth, electro-mag- 
netic and raagno-electric induction, electro-magnetic and magno-elec- 
tric currents, their chemical force, secondary currents of induction, 
Volta-electric induction, double induction, current inducted from the 
Leyden jar, hypothesis on the terrestrial magnetism. Oijtics; catoptrics, 
theories of light, its propagation, its intensity, law of reflexion, images 
of plain mirrors, spherical mirrors, anamorphosis ; dioptrics, refraction, 
Descartes' law, prism, lens, amplifying force, optical instruments, sight, 
decomposition of light, property of the spectrum, achromatism, colors, de- 
fraction, colored images, reflexion and refraction in the theory of undu- 
lations, constitutions of a ray, colors of polarized light, circular polarity, 
polarity of calorific and chemical rays. MeteMVology ; constitution of the 
atmosphere, terrestrial temperature, middle temperature, temperature of 
the ground in different depths, temperature of fountains, temperature of 
lakes and seas, atmospheric temperatures, perpetual snows. Winds; 
periodical winds, irregular winds, hurricanes, waterspouts, watery mete- 
ors, dew, white-frost, clouds and fog, rain, snow, wonderful rains, hail, 
electric and fire meteors, atmospheric electricity, phosphoric fires, meteoric 
stones, and falling stars, aurora borealis ; light meteors, rainbow, parhe- 
lions, fata morgana, barometric variations, periodic and irregular. 

The teaching on physical science is given by lectures, recitations, writ- 
ten composition ; and it is explained by a series of experiments, which 
the pupils attend according to the order of the lectures. For these ex- 
periments the municipaHties are requested to furnish the colleges of their 
own cities with apparatus and instruments, of which every college pos- 
sesses a collection more or less complete.* The other parts of the course 
of philosophy are also taught by lectures, and by recitations, in which 
generally the Socratic method is followed. The teaching of the courses of 
grammar and of rhetoric proceeds by lectures, reading and explanation 
of classics, by translations and compositions, and by learning the theo- 
retic rules of grammar and of rhetoric, which are pi'eviously explained 
by the professors from the text-books, and which are gradually applied 
to practical examples. 

The discipline of the schools is kept by a stringent enforcement of all 
the regulations, which are sanctioned by the permanent committee for 
the direction of the secondary instruction. Yet every kind of corporal 
punishment is strictly prohibited not only in the secondary, but also in 

* Besides these colleciions of scientific apparatus, almost every city possesses a public 
library for the use of its college and population. 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 25 

the primary courses ; and the only means allowed for the correction of 
the refractory pupils are the admonition given by the professor, by 
the director, or by the superintendent of the schools, according to the na- 
ture of the offense. Sometimes the admonition is given before the 
collegial council, and when this fails to bring the pupil to his duty, he is 
formally expelled from the college. In this case he can not be admitted 
into any other college of the State, before he obtains such an admission 
from the government. 

The secondary instruction in the colleges of the State is almost free ; 
as the pupils are only obliged to pay a small annual fee of fifteen 
francs. The teaching is given every day of the week, except Thurs- 
days and Sundays ; the scholastic year begins on the 15th of Octobei', and 
ends for the course of philosophy in the last part of June, and for the 
other courses with the close of July. 

In 1856, there were 39 royal and national colleges supported by the 
government. In the same year there were 47 municipal colleges more 
or less complete ; the pupils reached a total number of 15,000, and the 
number of teachers and professors was about 1000. There were besides 
a few seminaries, belonging to bishops, in which the pupils were prepared 
for the ecclesiastical education to be given in the high seminaries, after 
they have completed the secondary course. The instruction given in these 
seminaries is not recognized by the government, and does not give any 
right to the pupils to be admitted to the university, unless the bishops 
obtain the permission of opening such seminaries, and unless the teach- 
ers and professors appointed by them have received their diploma from 
the university. In every case the government reserves to itself the right 
of inspection in these institutions. There are also a few private schools, 
to which are granted the privileges of the public institutions ; viz.: of 
presenting their pupils for admission to the university. But to enjoy 
this privilege, the professors must have received their diploma from the 
university, must follow the programmes of the public schools, use the 
same text-books approved for the colleges, and pay the ordinary fees to 
the treasurer. Besides, a special decree of the minister of public instruc- 
tion is required by which the establishment of such schools is granted. 
Parents, however, have a right to have their children educated in their 
own families ; but for the validity of the course of philosophy they must 
give them this instruction through professors approved by the university. 
For any other course the certificate of a parent, by which it is testified 
that his child pursued the regular course of grammar and rhetoric in his 
own family, is sufiBcient to have him admitted to the examination for ad- 
mission to the courses of the imiversity. 

Go^TiRNMENT OF THE SECONDARY CLASSICAL ScHOOLS.^^The direction of 
these schools and colleges belongs to a permanent committee of five mem- 
bers of the council of the university. The number of these committees is 
equal to the number of the universities, and their jurisdiction is confined 
to the district embraced by the university, to which they belong. Under 
the dependence of these committees there are four inspectors, whose duty 
3 



26 SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

it is to visit every year all the public and private secondary schools. Be- 
sides there is in every college a council, which is presided over by the 
royal superintendent of the schools of the province, and composed of the 
director of instruction, of the professor of religion, of one of the pro- 
fessors of philosophy, of one of rhetoric, of one of grammar, and of 
anotlier of mathematics, or of any other scientific course. This council 
has the immediate direction of the college, and it is its duty to enforce 
the regulations published by the permanent committee, to which they 
send an annual report of the conditions of the schools. Should there be 
an establishment for boarding and lodging the pupils annexed to the col- 
leges, as in some cases, a president is appointed to direct it in connection 
with a council of administration. In this case a censor of discipline and 
a few assistants are added to the other officers. 

Technical Schools. — As primary schools are intended to give to all 
the citizens a general knowledge, such as is necessary to man without dis- 
tinction of class or difference of calling, secondary instruction has for 
its object the education and development of more special intellectual ca- 
pacities, and the preparation of its students for different scientific or artis- 
tic professions. The secondary classical schools prepare youth for the 
professions of the university, while the technical education proposes to 
direct the students through other courses which find no opening in the 
university. This instruction, considered as a general system, is of a re- 
cent origin ; having been organized .only since 1848. In that year, when 
the government founded the national colleges, there were annexed to these 
institutions technical courses, which were afterward established in con- 
nection with many other schools. The course of these schools is of five 
years, and the students are admitted to it after they have passed the full 
primary course. The programme taught in these courses, embraces reli- 
gion, Italian literature, history and geography, elementary and superior 
mathematics, mechanics, physical science, chemistiy, statistics, political 
economy, commercial law, commercial arithmetic, book-keeping, draw- 
ing, both ornamental and of machines, natural history, French, German, 
English languages, drawing of figures, singing and playing of pianoforte, 
declamatory art, gymnastics, military exercises, fencing, dancing, callv- 
graphy. There are about fifteen of these schools more or less complete ; the 
best of which are connected with some of the national or royal colleges. 
The number of the professors of the technical courses varies from ten to 
twenty, according to the less or greater development of the programme. 

Besides these courses there exists in Turin a Royal Technical Institute, 
with the following classes : 1st, mechanics applied to arts and industry. 
2d, chemistry, applied ; 3d, geometiy, applied ; 4th, agricultural chemistry. 
5th, agriculture. 6th, forestry. 7th, descriptive geometry and geometric- 
al drawing. A professor of the institute is entrusted with the direction of 
the school, and he is assisted by a council of administration especially 
appointed by the government. The professors are requested to expound 
in their courses the theoretical principles of the science, over the teach- 
ing of which they preside, and to make the applications, the best adapted 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 27 

to the objects. Besides this ordinary instruction, they are directed to 
dehver one or more special courses on some particular branch of applica- 
tion, and to organize practical exercises adapted to the nature of their 
lectures. Each professor is obliged to deliver at least two lectures a 
week, which must be illustrated by demonstrations and experiments. 
The institute possesses for this object a laboratory, and various collections 
of scientific apparatus, drawings, models, engines, and natural produc- 
tions. The lectures are public and free, and no examination is required 
from the students, in order to be admitted to them. The students, how- 
ever, after having completed the course of their instruction, have the 
right to present themselves for the examination, and to receive a certifi- 
cate from the examiners. .The course of the institute is opened in the 
middle of November, and ends with the month of June. 

There are also in Turin three special courses, directed according to the 
programme of the national colleges, two Public Technical Commercial 
Schools, and a Free School of Drawing applied to Arts and Industry. 
In the same city we find a School of Electric Telegraphing, a School 
OF Gymnastics connected with the association for the progress of gymnas- 
tic exercises, and a Veterinary School supported by the government and 
directed by three professors and two assistants. The pupils are obliged 
to attend most of the lectures delivered in the Royal Technical Institute, 
in addition to the instruction which they receive in the veterinary 
school. 

Genoa can boast of a Technical School in which are taught chemistry, 
mechanics, and geometry, applied to arts, geometry, arithmetic and trig- 
onometry applied to navigation, navigation, naval construction, and design. 
There is also a technical course connected with its national college, and 
a School of Commerce ; besides a Royal School of Marines, in which are 
given courses of mechanics, of astronomy and hydrography applied to 
navigation, of elementary, analytic and descriptive geometry, of infinites- 
imal calculus, algebra, plain and spherical trigonometry, navigation, 
chemical and physical sciences, naval construction, fortification, artillery 
and military art, history, physical and political statistics, and commercial 
geometry. The pupils are also taught Italian literature, the English and 
French languages, drawing, calligraphy, ffencing, and dancing. In the 
summer of each year the pupils make a voyage of instruction in ships be- 
longing to the State. The institution is conducted by sixteen officers and 
professors, and has about sixty pupils. In Genoa, there is in operation a 
Free and Municipal Institution of Music, for both sexes, with the fol- 
lowing course of instruction ; musical composition, singing, piano-forte, 
violin, double bass, violoncello, clarinet, flute, comet, and other instru- 
ments. It is directed by thirteen professors. 

Chambery has a special course connected with its national college, and 
Technical Schools of mechanics and chemistry applied to arts. Nice 
possesses also a special course in its national college, a School of Com- 
merce supported by a private association and by subsidies from the gov- 
ernment and the municipality, and a Free School of Navigation. 



28 SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

Wc find in the other principal cities technical schools, more or less ex- 
tensive, according to their means and specialities, and which are all free and 
supported either by the government, or by the municipalities, or by pri- 
vate associations. Among those we may mention as the most prominent : 

The School of Agkicultuke, of Motte-ServoUex, in Savoy. 

The School of Watchmaking, of Oluses, in Savoy. 

The School of Commerce, of Bonneville, in Savoy. 

The School of Arts and Trades, of Biella, connected with the Associa- 
tion for the advancement of arts, trade, and agriculture of that province. 

The School of Ornament and Architecture of Chiavari,connected with 
the Economical Association of that city. 

Bellini's Institution of Arts and Trade, at Novara. 

The School of Land Surveying and the School for Artisans, of 
Casale. 

The School of Design, of Varallo. 

The College for the Children of oflScers and soldiers, at Racconiggi. 

The Military School of Cavalry, of Pinerolo. 

The School of Pontoneers, at Casale. 

The School of Navigation of Villafranca. 

The Ecclesiastical Seminaries belong to the system of special instruc- 
tion, as their object consists in training students of Divinity, and candi- 
dates for the priesthood. The pupils are boarded and lodged in these insti- 
tutions, for which either they pay a moderate price, or are entirely ex- 
empted from any payment, according to the means of the seminaries, and 
the pleasure of the bishops. The entire course of the seminary lasts 
seven years, and embraces courses of philosophy, and of theology. The 
course of philosophy lasts two years, and docs not differ from the col- 
legiate course. Theology is divided into two main parts, dogmatic 
and moral. In the best institutions there is also a course of canon law, 
ecclesiastical history, liturgy and sacred oratory. They own property 
and support themselves. The government, however, pays a salary to one 
of the professors of theology, whenever the bishops submit the appoint- 
ment to its approbation, admit in their establishments the treatises pre- 
scribed by the university, and allow them to be inspected by the ofiicial 
inspectors. There are about forty-four of these seminaries, most of 
which have of late refused to submit to any control flpom the government 

Schools of the Waldenses. — Though the Waldenses enjoy the full 
right of availing themselves of public instruction, under the direction of 
the government, yet in those places where they constitute the majority 
of the population, they have schools of their own. Such is Trinity Col- 
lege, established at Torre, where pupils are taught theology, philosophy, 
and belles-lettres, and with which three elementary schools are connected. 
We find also primary schools in all the parishes of the Waldenses in the 
valleys of Lucerne, Perosa, St. Martin, etc. They have also a Superior 
School for Girls, at Torre, and some Latin Schools — all of which are 
conducted according to the programme of the state. 

The government of the Technical Courses and Schools, which are 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 29 

supported by the government itself, belongs to the general Council of 
elementary instruction, the organization of which we have described else- 
where. The Royal Technical Institute, however, is directed by a spe- 
cial council of administration, under the immediate direction of the minis- 
ter. In regard to the others, they are under special administrations, over 
which the government retains a right of control and inspection. 

In connection with the public technical or special schools we may glance 
at a number of provident and reformatory institutions which, though 
they do not belong strictly to the system of public instruction, contribute 
largely to the education and general improvement of the capital. 

Royal House of Virtue, (R. Albergo di Virtu,) founded in 1587, in 
which 120 poor boys are gratuitously lodged and supported, instructed 
and trained to some art, such as the manufacture of silk and woolen 
goods, ribbons, laces, stockings, or to some mechanical trade. 

College of Young Artisans, {Collegio degli Artigimielli,) recently 
founded by private benevolence for the purpose of sheltering, educa- 
ting and training poor and abandoned boys to some mechanical or agri- 
cultural pursuit. 

Royal Mendicant Asylum, (E. Ricovero di Mendicita,) founded in 
1840, for persons found begging in the streets, who are provided for, and 
set to work — they enjoy a part of the proceeds of their labor. 

Royal College of Providence accommodates 140 respectable young 
ladies, and gives them instruction in every kind of feminine em- 
ployment. 

Houses of Refuge, (II Soccorso e il Deposito^) where the daughters of 
respectable impoverished families have a home, and are educated and 
trained to different kinds of work. 

Asylum of the Rosine, {II Ritiro delle Rosine,) where 330 poor girls are 
boarded and lodged, and provided with instruction and employment. 

Asylum of the Sapellene, founded in 1822, as a home for young girls 
who are morally endangered, where they are instructed and trained to 
feminine occupations. 

Home for Orphan Girls, {Monasterio delle Povere Orfane,) founded 
in 1550. 

Royal Asylum for daughters of military officers. This institution 
accommodates about seventy inmates, with a home education. 

Institution fob Vagrants, founded in 1776. It gives employment 
and instruction to the extreme poor and their children, and bestows a 
small dowry on the girls when they marry. The instruction is given by 
volunteers, gentlemen and ladies of high social standing. 

The Little Home of Divine Providence, {Piccola Casa della 
Divina Providema,) founded in 1829, as a home for infirm, sick, and 
poor people of every age. It has accommodations for 1200 inmates, 
who are classified according to their condition in the Orphan Asylum, 
the Infant Schools, (of which there are five,) School for the Deaf-mutes, 
the Hospital, &c. The workshops are well appointed and managed. 
The carpets, laces, and wool-tissues manufactured here are in great 



30 SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

demand, and have twice received the golden medal at the national indus- 
trial exhibition. There is also a School for Jlusic, in which jjupils are 
trained for the Royal Chapel. 

Royal Normal School for Deaf-mutes, founded in 1834. It receives 
pupils of both sexes between the age of 10 and 16 years, who pay a 
small sum for their board and lodging. After they have received a suffi- 
cient instruction, the boys are trained to the practice of some trade in 
some workshops of the city, and boai'd in the establishment during the 
five or six years of their apprenticeship, — the girls are instructed in all 
kinds of feminine occcupation. Day pupils are also admitted to the 
school of the institution, without any charges. The city of Turin sup- 
ports at its own expense some pupils in the institution. Other provinces 
follow this example. This institution trains teachers for similar schools in 
other parts of the kingdom. 

Other cities of the kingdom abound in similar institutions. Many of 
them are under the care of religious sisterhoods and voluntary associa- 
tions, and are supported by endowments and annual contributions. 

Among the technical or special schools may be mentioned the Correc- 
tional and Reformatory School for young detenues, two miles out of Turin. 
It is organized and managed substantially after the plan of Parkhurst Prison 
in England, and the State Reform School at Westborough, Mass. There 
are over 300 inmates, divided into four sections, mostlj'' employed in gar- 
dening and in mechanical trades closely associated with agriculture and 
common life, such as carpentering, tailoring, &c. The construction and 
internal management of this Reformatory has led to the improvement 
of the prisons and prison discipline of the kingdom generally. There is 
also at Turin a House of Cokkection, which is both a Prison and a Hos- 
pital, supported by the government for criminal and abandoned women ; 
a House of Charitable Refuge, supported by private benevolence for the 
same class of women desirous of entering on a better life. Associated 
with these institutions there is a Patronage Society, to assist discharged 
inmates of the reformatory school in finding employment. 

From this survey of institutions of secondary including special instruc- 
tion, it is evident that the government of Sardinia is behind no European 
State in assisting the development of the industrial resources of the 
country, while it at the same time provides for universal elementary in- 
struction, and the demands of higher learning and science. Quite re- 
cently the government has divided the technical or special schools into 
two classes : — the first having a course of three, and the second of two 
years ; the last having two sections, one commercial and the other indus- 
trial, so as to meet the wants of difierent pupils, and diSerent localities. 
The government also distributes an annual subsidy of seventy thousand 
francs among these schools, for the special benefit of the teachers. 

The examination, which leads the pupils from the secondary schools 
to the university, is called the examination of Magistero, and constitutes 
the first degree on which the university bestows a diploma. 

The diploma is given under the control and direction of the faculties 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 31 

of letters and philosophy, and of physical and mathematical sciences ; 
which are represented by special committees, each of which consists of 
three members, of whom one at least must be an ordinary professor of 
the faculty. The other members are annually appointed by the minister 
of public instruction, selected from the doctors of the same faculties. 
These committees in the university of Turin can not be less than three 
for each subject of examination. The examination consists of three 
different subjects ; two scientific and one literary, which embrace all the 
subjects of the secondary instruction of the State colleges. The first sci- 
entific examination embraces questions in logic, metaphysics, arithmetic, 
algebra, and geometry ; the second, questions in ethics, and physical sci- 
ence, which are drawn by lot from the prescribed programmes, and an- 
swered orally. The literary examination is written and oral. The written 
consists of a Latin and an Italian composition, on two themes drawn by lot 
from six, which have been proposed by the president of the faculty. 
For each of these compositions three hours are allowed to the pupils, and 
in this time they must write their exercises under the inspection of an 
assistant, and without aid of any books, except the dictionaries. The 
oral examination lasts one hour, and is on the compositions and on ques- 
tions suggested by them, on the interpretation of Latin and Italian writ- 
ers, and on questions on history, according to the programme. The 
oral examinations are made with open doors, and the public can attend 
them. These examinations take place twice during the year ; viz. : forty 
days before the closing of the university, and in the day after its open- 
ing, for the succeeding twenty days. The programmes of the examina- 
tions are in their substance the same as of the instruction, but are so ar- 
ranged as to embrace it in twenty-five numbers, each of which compre- 
hends many questions. These programmes are upon the following sub- 
jects: 1, logic and metaphysics; 2, ethics; 3, arithmetic, algebra, and 
geometry ; 4, physical science ; 5, ancient history ; 6, modern history ; 

7, geography. 

The Latin authors studied in the Secondary Schools, and on which an 
examination is held for the degree of Magistero are, — 

1. Cato — DeReRustica. 2. Cicero— Orationes Selectee. 3. Cicero — Qucestiones Aca- 
demiccs el Tusculanae. 4. Cicero — De Natura Deorum. 5. Cicero — De Lcgibus et de 
Republica. 6. Sallustius — Bellum Catilinanwn. 7. Sallustius— Z^e//M7?i Jugurthinvm. 

8. Livius — HistoriaTum, lib. 1, No. 3. 9. Livius — Ex aliis Historiarmn Ubris. 10. 
Tacitus — Annates, lib. 1. Historiae, lib. 1. 11. Tacitus — Agricola. Germania. 12. 
Plinius Secundus— £pts«o/ae. 13. Plautus— T'nnMmmMs,lib.2. U.Terentius— JS.rcerpia. 
15. Lucretius— Z)e Rerum Natura. 16. Catullus— £a;cerp^a. 17. Tibullus, et Proper- 
tms—Excerpta. 18. Virgilius — Bucolica—Georgica. 19. Virgilius — JEneidos, 6—12. 
20. Virgilius— ^?ie!dos, 1—6. 21. Horatius— Carmma. 22. Horatius— Epociore- &- 
lira. 23. Horalms— Epistola de Arte Foetica. 24. Ovidius — Metamorphoson, 1 — 3. 
25. Ovidius — Excerpta, Heroidum — Fastorum — Tristium ex Ponto. 

The Italian writers are : 

1. Dino Compagni — Cronaca Fiorentina. 2. G.Boccaccio — Decamerone, Vita di Dan- 
te, Fiammetta, and Filocopo. 3. A. Pandolfini — Del buon governo delta famiglia. 4. 
N. Machiavelli — Storie, Florentine, Discorsi sidla prima Deca. 5. P. Bembo — Lettere, 
Storie Veneziane. 6. F. Guicciardini — Storia d' Italia. 7. A. Ficenzuola— iVarraswm 
tratte dalle sue opere. 8. A. Caro. Lettere. 9. Delia Casa. 10. G. Galilei— Opere. 
11. F. Redi — Lettre. 12. P. Se%nen—Descrizioni e Narrazioni. 13, 14, 15. Dante 
Alighieri— Z>mna Commedia. 16. F. Pelrarca — Sonetti, Canzoni Trionfo delta Morte. 
17. A. Poliziano — Poesie Liriche, Orfeo, Stanze. 18. L. Ariosto — Orlando Furioso. 
19. F. Bemi— Orlando Innamorato. 20. F. Ta,sso—Gerusalemme ^iberata. 21. G 



32 SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

Chiabrera — Canzoni; A. Guidi — La Forttma. 22. G. Gozzi — Sermoni ; G. Parini — 
Liriche, Giomi. 23. V. Alfieri — Saul, Polinice, Oreste. 24. U. Foscolo — / Sepolcri. 
25. V. Monti — ia bellezza dell' Universo. Liriche. 

III. SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION. 

Universities. — There are in the Kingdom four universities; in Turin, 
Genoa, Cagliari and Sassari, the two latter in the island of Sardinia. We 
shall speak only of the university of Turin, that being the most complete 
in its organization, the highest in scope of instruction, the most important 
institution of the country, and the model of all the others. Indeed the 
university of Turin may claim a prominent place among the institutions 
of Europe, and in Italy takes rank with those of Pavia, Padua, Pisa, and 
Bologna. 

The university of Turin was founded in 1405 by Louis of Savoy, 
Prince of Piedmont. In 1412 it obtained its rights and privileges from 
the Emperor Sigismond, and in 1424 Amedeus VIII. organized a Coun- 
cil of direction of the university, composed of the governor-general, and 
three other members, who were called Reformers, (Rifoivtiatari.) Some 
years after it was transferred to Chieri, on account of the wars of that 
time ; then again, from Chieri to Savigliano, and in 1436 restored to Tu- 
rin. Emmanuel Philibert in 1516 gave new life to the institution, reform- 
ed the council of direction, and established separate faculties. Still 
further improvements were made by Victor Amedeus II. to whom Pied- 
mont owes in no small degree its present welfare and strength. He built 
the magnificent palace of the university, called to it the illustrious profes- 
sors from other parts of Italy, from Prance and other countries, founded 
the college of the provinces for the support and education of poor and tal- 
ented pupils, and established the botanic garden. Charles Emmanuel III. 
was not less eager in promoting the prosperity of the institution, promul- 
gating a code of academic laws, which, for its time, was the most complete 
in Europe ; and which was modified and improved by Charles xVlbert, 
who created many chairs, built the magnificent new anatomic theater, 
enriched the botanic garden and museums, and founded a new era of 
national independence, ireedom, and of scientific glory in the annals of 
public instruction in Sardinia. His son, the present king Victor Emman- 
uel II. has shown himself a worthy successor of the founder of the free 
institutions of the country, by placing Sardinia at the head of the nation- 
al party of Italy, sustaining before European diplomacy the rights and 
the independence of the nation, emancipating the country from the relics 
of ancient despotism, and maintaining with religious affection the politi- 
cal constitution of the country, and improving in every way the ma- 
terial as well as the educational condition of the people ; and especially 
in increasing the splendor and raising the standing of the university of 
the capital of his kingdom. 

Many celebrated scholars have from the beginning given honor to its 
name, among whom we may mention Cara, who lived in the 15th cen- 
tury, a lawyer, as well as a Latin scholar of great celebrity, who attract- 
ed to his lectures distinguished audiences, not only from every part of 



SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINU. 3^ 

Italy, but even from France, Spain, and Germany. In the 16th century 
CuJACius, that miracle of legal erudition, left Toulouse, his native country, 
and repaired to this university. In the same century and in the same 
institution, Argentieri taught medical science, and Benedetti mathe- 
matical astronomy. Thesauro in the 17th century was celebrated among 
Latin scholars ; in the iSth, the university could boast of a Gerdil 
in moral philosophy, of Alcasio and Bono in jurisprudence, of Cigna in 
anatomy and physiology, of Bertrandi, Brugnone and Penchienati in Sur- 
gery, of DoNATi, the botanist, who by his extensive travels in Asia, en- 
riched the garden of the university with many precious treasures ; of 
Allioni, who proposed a new classification of the vegetable kingdom, of 
MicnELLOTTi, celebrated in hydraulics, and of Beccaria who divided with 
Franklin the laurels of the discoveries of electricity. In the present cen- 
tury, Bardi acquired an European fame for his high attainments in 
Hebrew literature and in sacred history ; Alardi, Gridis, and BESsoNEwere 
celebrated in jurisprudence ; Giulio discovered muscles in plants ; Ro- 
lando developed a new theory of the structure of the brain ; Balbi fol- 
lowed with devoted zeal the study of botany ; Vassalli Eandi showed 
himself a worthy pupil of Beccaria ; Bonelli and Borson enriched the 
zoologic and mineralogic museums ; Bonvicino and Giobert acquired 
great reputation in chemistry, and Bidone in mathematics ; finally the 
names of Lagrange, Alfieri, Berardi, Charles Botta, Gioberti, C^- 
sar Balbo, Sciolla, Tarditi, Boucheron, &c., who either received their 
scientific education at the university, or presided over some branches of 
its instruction, would be suflBcient to raise that institution to an equal 
standing with the most celebrated universities of Europe. We do not 
speak of the living professors, among whom are many names of great re- 
pute, in theology, jurisprudence, medical and surgical science, philosophy 
and letters, physics and mathematics. 

The palace of the university built in 1714, according to the design of 
RiccA, stands on the widest and most beautiful thoroughfare of the city, 
the great street of the Po, which is adorned on both sides with wide and 
lofty arcades, ending at each extremity with a wide square, looking on 
one side toward the old castle, which stands alone in the middle of its 
square, and on the other to the picturesque hills, which overlook the 
city. The palace has within a court surrounded by arcades, divided by 
columns which support above another gallery of the same style, as the ar- 
cades below. In the walls of these are many Roman inscriptions, statues, 
and bas-reliefs, discovered in Piedmont, and which have been describ- 
ed by Scipione Mafiei and other celebrated antiquaries. On the arcades 
above are a marble group representing fame chaining time, and four urns 
representing the seasons, which were presented to the university by Vic- 
tor Emmanuel I. The imposing staircase is adorned with marble vases, 
and ornamented with sculpturing. All the interior of the University is 
grand and magnificent, and admirably fitted for its objects. 

The University consists of five faculties, — Theology, Jurisprudence, 
Medicine and Surgery, Belles-lettres and Philosophy, Physical and 



34 SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

Mathematical Sciences. Each faculty is composed of the professors, 
and of the Collegiate Doctors, and it is represented by a Council which is 
formed of the president of the foculty, of three professors, and of two 
doctors, all of whom are elected by ballot, by the members of the faculty 
itself. The faculty of belles-lettres and philosophy is divided into two 
classes, one of belles-lettres and one of philosophy. The faculty of phy- 
sical and mathematical sciences is also divided into two classes, of phy- 
ical and mathematic science. 

The Councils of the faculties have the immediate direction of the 
instruction, which belongs to each of them : over these presided 
until lately a Council of the university, to which the general admin- 
istration and direction of the institution belonged. This council was 
composed of eight members ; the president was appointed by the 
government, of the other seven counselors, five were elected from 
five lists ; each of three professors, which were made by ballot by 
each faculty, and the two others were selected by the government, 
among the most distinguished men either in the scientific or lit- 
erary department. This council was entrusted with the execution of the 
scholastic laws and with the direction and advancement of the instruc- 
tion of the university. A new law relating to the administration of pub- 
lic instruction, which was a few months ago adopted by the Parliament, 
modified this organization, and we shall speak of it hereafter. There is 
also a rector of the university appointed from among the professors by 
the government, for a term of three years. 

The faculties have a determined number of collegiate doctorships, and 
when one of these is vacant, an examination is opened in order to fill it. 
Doctors who received the diploma of the faculty can alone present them- 
selves to this examination, but not before two years of doctorship. The 
examination consists of a written dissertation upon a subject drawn by 
lot, and of a public extemporary lecture ; the candidate who in the 
contest, receives the approbation of the faculty, before being declared a 
collegiate doctor, is obliged to sustain a satisfactory public discussion on 
some of his positions, which he is required to publish as an exposition of 
the particular science. The collegiate doctors are, in connection with the 
professors, the examiners of the candidates for the memberships of the 
colleges, as well as of the students who apply for the diploma of their 
faculty. They are also the members of the committees appointed for 
the examination of students applying for admission to the university. 

The professors are appointed by the government, after being proposed 
by the supreme council of instruction ; as a general rule they are chosen 
among the collegiate doctors, though in some exceptional cases men of 
high scientific reputation, who do not belong to the university, may receive 
the appointment. 

The colleges of the faculties at present contain as follows : 1st, College 
of theology, twenty-four doctors ; 2d, of jurisprudence, twenty-two ; 3d, 
of medicine and surgery, twenty-nine ; 4th, of belles-lettres and philoso- 
phy, a, class of belles-lettres, ten, 5, class of philosophy, seven ; 5th, 



SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 35 

of physical and mathematical sciences, a, class of physical sciences, ten, 
b, class of mathematical sciences, nine. 

Some of these doctors are appointed by the government, as extraordi- 
nary professors of the faculty, whose duty is to take place of the ordina- 
ry professors, when prevented from lecturing or examining. 

There are also attached to the university, private teachers who are 
called Ripetitori, from whom the students can receive private instruc- 
tion on the course. These teachers are licensed by the council of the 
university, after being proposed by the councils of the faculties ; the 
students, however, are not obliged to follow these courses, and should 
they choose to follow them, they are by no means exempted from the course 
of the university, which is the only one recognized as the necessary con- 
dition of admission to the examinations and to the doctorships. The 
private courses are paid by the students who wish to follow them, but 
the courses of the university, as well as of the colleges, are entirely free- 
The students, however, are obliged to pay to the public treasure a fee 
for their examination, which varies according to the different faculties. 
From tlie payment of these fees all pupils are exempted, who prove the 
inability of their parents to pay them. 

In order to be admitted to the course of a faculty, it is necessary for the 
students to present the certificate of having completed all the secondary 
courses, including that of philosophy ; auother, of having passed satis- 
factory all the examinations of magisterio. They then declare the fac- 
ulty, of which they intend to follow the courses ; after which they are 
obliged to attend the lectures prescribed for those courses, to obtain 
every quarter a certificate of their attendance from each professor, and to 
pass an annual examination upon the subjects of the programme. 

The following are the courses connected with each faculty ; to each 
course is appointed a professor. 

Faculty of Theology. 1st, Biblical theology ; 2d, Bible and the ele- 
ments of Hebrew ; 3d, Ecclesiastical History ; 4th, Dogmatic theology ; 
5th, Speculative theology ; 6th, Sacraments ; 7th, Moral theology ; 8th, 
Art of preaching. The course continues through five years, and the sub- 
jects are arranged in the following order : 1st year, Biblical and Dogmati- 
cal theology ; Id and M years, Moral theology. Speculative theology, and 
Sacraments; Uh and 5th years, Moral theology. Speculative theology, Sa- 
craments, and Bible. The students, who propose to contend for the three 
prizes established by the government for the best written solution of the- 
ological questions, attend the lectures of an additional course, which is 
of two years, and embraces ecclesiastical history, the art of preaching, 
elements of Hebrew, and exegesis of the Bible. 

The bishops have the right to establish theological schools in their sem- 
inaries ; but the instruction received in those seminaries can not give to 
the students the privilege of presenting themselves to the examination for 
receiving the Doctorship of Divinity from the university, unless the pro- 
fessors of theology have been appointed by the government, and unless 
these professors follow the programmes and the general regulations of the 



36 SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

university. In this case the professors of the seminaries receive their 
salary from the government. The diploma of doctorship in divinity is 
a necessary condition for obtaining the incumbency of many ecclesiasti- 
cal benefices and employments, to which the government has the right 
of nomination, and as this diploma can be only granted by the universi- 
ty, it follows that a great part of the clergy are obliged to pass through 
this course in one of the universities of the state. During late years, 
however, the church having entered into an open opposition to the state, 
on account of some reforms introduced into the political institutions of 
the country, the bishops became reluctant to allow the students of divin- 
ity to follow the course of the university, so that from recent statistics 
this faculty appears almost deserted. 

The following is the catalogue of the professors of the theological fac- 
ulty of the university of Turin, with the subjects of their lectures for 
the scholastic year, 1856-7. (November — June.) 

Parato Felice, member of the Council of the University, in Moral Theology, will 
lecture on human actions, on moral law and on the laws of the Decalogue and of the Church, 
at 9 o'clock, every day. 

Serafino Angelo, in Speculative Theology, will lecture on God and his attributes, 
at 10 o'clock, every day. 

Ghiringhello Giuseppe, member of the Supreme Council of public instruction, in 
the Holy Bible, will lecture on Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, and Revelations, at 3 
o clock, until April ; then at half past three, every day. He will also teach Hebrew and 
Biblical Exegesis, every day at 4 o'clock, until April, then at half past four. 

Banaudi Casimiro, will teach Biblical Theology, at 10 o'clock, every day. 

Savio Carlo Luigi will teach Dogmatical Theology, at 11 o'clock, every day. 

Barone Francesco, in Ecclesiastical History, will lecture on the History of the Church 
from Constantine to Charlemagne, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at 12 
o'clock. 

N. N. will teach the Art of preaching, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, at 12 
o'clock. 

N. N. in Speculative Theology ; will lecture on Sacraments in general, and on Baptism 
and on Confirmation, at 11 o'clock, every day. 

Faculty of Jurisprudence. — The course of this faculty extends through 
five years, and consists of the following thirteen chairs. 1st, History of 
Jurisprudence ; 2d, Institutions of Roman Law ; 3d, Ecclesiastical Law ; 
4:th, Roman Law; 5th, Civil Law; Gth, Penal Law; 7th, Political Econo- 
my ; 8th, Constitutional Law ; 9th, Commercial Law ; 10th, Judiciary 
Law and Theory of Evidences; 11th, Administrative Law ; 12th, Inter- 
national Law ; 13th, Philosophy of Jurisprudence. These subjects are 
divided through the course in this way : 1st year, History of Jurispru- 
dence, Institutions of Roman Law, Ecclesiastical Law. 2fZ yeai\ Ecclesi- 
astical Law, Roman Law, Civil Law, Penal Law, Political Economy. 
Zd year, Roman Law, Civil Law, Penal Law, Political Economy, and 
Constitutional Law. 4:tTi year^ Roman Law, Civil Law, Constitutional 
Law, Commercial Law, Judiciary Law. 5iA year, Commercial Law, Judi- 
ciary Law, Administrative Law, International Law, Philosophy of Juris- 
prudence. 

No one can obtain the title of lawyer, or practice the legal profession 
or plead any cause before any court of the country, or be appointed in 
any place of the judiciary department, without having received the diplo- 
ma of Doctorship in this faculty. This diploma opens also the most part 
of the official employments, both in the executive and in the administra ■ 



SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. gl^ 

tive departments, and gives a better chance for election to the legislative 
body. 

In order to afford a better opportunity to the students of this faculty 
who reside in the most distant parts of the country, there is a school of 
jurisprudence in Chambery and in Nice for the students born in those 
provinces. The programme, however, of these schools does not exceed 
the subjects which are taught in the first year of the course, after which 
it is required of the students to continue their course at the university. 
Thus three professors deliver lectures in each of those schools, according 
to the programme of the university and under the direction of the faculty 
of Turin, and of the council of that university. In every city, besides, 
which is at the head of a provincial department, there is a school of 
Civil and of Judiciary Zaw, which prepares its students for the 
professions of public notaries and advocates. This course extends 
through two years ; in the first of which they are taught the elements 
of civil law, in the second the judiciary law, in causes both civil and 
mminal. 

The professor of the history of jurisprudence, after having given to his 
students the fundamental ideas which are necessary to understand this 
part of their course, commences with the origin of the Eoman law and 
follows it through its decline at the fall of the empire ; and treats of the 
different laws promulgated by the succeeding rulers, of the most useful 
principles of the feudal system, of the canonical law, of the contests be- 
tween the civil and ecclesiastical authority, and of the statutes of the 
ancient commons, and pursues the genesis and the changes of our legis- 
lation to the present time. In the course of his history the professor is 
required to point out the sources of law, and the causes of progress of 
justice, and of other phases of jurisprudence. 

The professors of the institutions of Roman law, and of Roman law it- 
self, expound compendiously the parts of that law, which do not enter 
into Sardinian legislation, and dwell upon the other parts, which are the 
foundation of the law of the country. 

In the first year of the course on ecclesiastical law, the lectures treat, 
1st, of the church and its authority ; ■2d, of marriage. In the second 
year their subjects embrace the doctrine of ecclesiastical benefices. The 
study of penal code is divided into two parts, in the first of which the 
general theoiy is taught, in the second special applications to different 
offenses. In this last part the professor dwells especially upon offenses 
against public faith, and against the peace and property of families and 
individuals. The lectures on commercial law embrace all the parts of 
this law, and include the maritime law. The course of judiciary law is 
divided into two parts, accordingly as it refers to civil or criminal pro- 
ceedings, and includes in both parts the theory of evidences. 

We give here the catalogue of the professors of this faculty, and their 

programme for the present year : 

Vacchino Francesco, in Commercial Law, will lecture on it, on Tuesdays, 
Thursdays, and Saturdays, at 10 o'clock. 



38 SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

NuiTzGiovANNi NEPOMUCENO.memberof the Council of the University, and Rector 
of the University, in Roman Law, will lecture on Obligations, Mondays, Wednesdays and 
Fridays, at 8 o'clock. 

Cesano Gaspare, extraordinary member of the Supreme Council of instruction, in 
Civil Law, will lecture on the Contract of Marriage, on subsequent rights in both parties, and 
on the contract of partnership, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at 10 o'clock. 

Pateri Ilario Filiberto, in Ecclesiastical Law, will lecture on the Church, and 
onits authority, and onMarriage, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, at 8 o'clock. 

Albini Pietro, in the Philosophy of .Jurisprudence ; after having given the theory 
of juridical law, will lecture on the theory of juridical rational law, and on rational princi- 
ples of family right, a7id of public right, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 10 o'clock. 

Genina Luigi, in Penal Law, after having given the general ideas of offense, of impu- 
tation, and of punishment, will lecture on offenses against public faith, and on offenses 
agaiiist the peace and the order of families and of individuals, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and 
Saturdays, at 9 o'clock. 

Pescatore Matted, in Judiciary Law, will expound the principal parts of criminal 
proceeding, and will give its theory of evidences, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, at 
9 o'clock. 

Melegari Luigi Amedeo, in Constitutional Law, will give an historical introduction 
on representative institutions, after which he will lecture on the rights of citizens and on their 
guaratitees, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, at 11 o'clock. 

BuNiVA Giuseppe, in Civil Law, will lecture on Testamentary Successions, Mon- 
days, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at 9 o'clock. 

Ferrara Francesco, in PolitioalEconomy ; will deliver lectures on it, Tuesdays, 
Thursdays, and Saturdays, at 10 o'clock. 

LiONE Antonio, in Administrative Law, will lecture on it, Mondays, Wednesdays, 
and Fridays, at 9 o'clock. 

Mancini Pasquale Stanislao, in International Law ; will lecture 07i the Elements 
of international, public, national and positive law, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 
at 11 o'clock. 

Anselmi Giorgio, will lecture on the Institutions of Roman law, every day, at 10 
o'clock. 

Demargherita Alessandro, in the History of Jurisprudence; will lecture on it, 
every day, at 9 o'clock. 

Avondo Carlo and Gastaldetti Celestino, extraordinary professors, will take 
the place of the above professors, in case of their being prevented from lecturing. 

Faculty of Medicine and Surgery. — This faculty possesses nineteen 
chairs, and its course continues through six years. It is strictly prohib- 
ited by the law of the country to exercise the profession of medicine or 
surgery, without having obtained the diploma of doctorship from one of 
the universities of the state. This diploma is only bestowed upon the 
accomplishment of the full course of the faculty, and of passing the ex- 
aminations which are prescribed by law. The same provision is enforced 
in all the faculties of the university for the exercise of the professions 
relative to them. 1st chair, Chemistry ; 2d, theoretical and practical 
Pharmacy, and toxicologic Chemistry ; 3d, Mineralogy ; 4th, Botany ; 5th, 
Zoology ; 6th, Anatomy ; 7th, Physiology ; 8th, medical and sui-gical In- 
stitutions ; 9th, Materia medica ; 10th and 11th, theoretical and practical 
Medicine; 12th and 13th, theoretical and practical Surgery; 14th, theo- 
retical Obstetrics and obstetrical Clinic; 15th, surgical Operations and op- 
erative Clinic with anatomical and surgical exercitations at the hospital ; 
16th, Hygiene and public health ; 17th, Legal medicine and Toxicology; 
18th, Clinic of mental diseases ; 19th, pathological Anatomy. The order of 
the course is the following : 1st year, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Botany, 
Zoology, Anatomy. 2d year, Chemistry, Anatomy, Physiology, medical 
and surgical Institutions, theoretical and practical Pharmacy, and toxicolo- 
gic Chemistry. 3<Z year, anatomical Exercitations, Anatomy, Materia 
medica, theoretical and practical Medicine, theoretical and practical Sur- 
gery. 4:th year, anatomical Exercitations, Materia medica, theoretical 



SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 39 

and practical Medicine, theoretical and practical Surgery, medical Clinic, 
Hygiene and public health. 5th year^ theoretical and practical Medicine, 
theoretical and practical Surgery, theoretical Obstetrics and obstetrical 
Clinic, surgical Operations and operative Clinic, medical Clinic, pathologi- 
cal Anatomy, exercitations of operations and bandages. %tli yeai\ surgi- 
cal operations and operative Clinic, medical Clinic, Clinic of mental diseases, 
legal Medicine and Toxicology. 

The first year of the course can be pursued in Chambery and in Nice, 
where four professors in, the former city, and three in the latter deliver 
lectures on the prescribed subjects. 

All the students are obliged to complete the entire course of the facul- 
ty, and to obtain the diploma of Doctorship, both in medicine and in sur- 
gery, vrhether they intend to practice the one or the other, or both. 
But those, who intend to devote themselves to the exercise of the obstet- 
ric art, are obliged to attend for six months the obstetric clinic at the 
maternity hospital, and to pass a practical examination on that art. 
Women, who intend to follow the profession of midwives, are obliged to 
frequent the same clinic and to pass the same examination. In the cities 
of Novara, Vercelli, Voghera and Chambery, there is a free practical 
school of obstetrics for women ; and the students of the school of Nova- 
ra are supported by the municipalities of the townships, which send them 
to that school. 

There is a class of students, who intend to limit their practice to bleed 
ing. In order to obtain the approbation for this practice, they are obliged 
to pass through a course of .two years, in the first of which they 
attend the lectures of anatomy, in the second of anatomy, physiology, 
and medical and surgical institutions. They must also spend a year in 
the practice of their art, under a licensed phlebotomist, after which they 
are allowed to present themselves for a final examination, which, if suc- 
cessful, gives them the right to have the diploma of phlebotomy, and 
to receive the license of its exercise. 

The foUovdng is the catalogue of the faculty for the year 1856-57 : 

RiBERi Alessandro, member of the supreme Council of instruction, in Operations, 
will lecture on the principal surgical Operations, at 8 o'clock, A. M., Tuesdays, Thurs- 
days, and Fridays ; besides, he will teach at the hospital of St. John the operative Clinic, 
at half past 6 every day. 

Pasero Francesco, in theoretical and practical Surgery ; will lecture on Dis- 
eases of the Mouth, in the first four months, and in the following on Diseases of the 
Eyes, at half past 10, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Besides, he will teach at 
the hospital of St. John, surgical Clinic, at half past 2, every day. 

Berutti Secondo Giovanni, in Physiology, will deliver lectures on general and 
special physiology, and will occasionally perform experiments on living animals, at 9 
o'clock, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. 

GiROLA Lorenzo, in theoretical and practical Medicine, will lecture on Neurosis, 
viz.: on Ncuropachy ami especially on organic Innervation of sensitiveness, and of mobility, 
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at half past 10; he will, also, at the hospital of St. 
John, teach medical Clinic, at half past 2, every day. 

Allipbandi Michele Luigi,* in Obstetrics, will lecture on ivomb, pregnancy, 
Orology, Accouchment, the normal and abnormal state of new born children, at half past 8, 
Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. He will also give practical lessons on Obstet- 
ric Clinic, at the Maternity Hospital, on days and hours to be fixed according to the 
occasions. 

* Since dead. 



40 SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

ViGLiETTi Giovanni Antonio, in Hygiene and Public Health, will lecture on it, at 
8 o'clock, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. 

Carmagnola. Paolo Andrea, in theoretical and practical Medicine, will lecture 
on Inflamation generally, and afterward on Inflamations of the bowels, at 8 o'clock, 
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays ; he will also teach medical clinic, at the hospital 
of St. John, at half past 2, every day. 

FioRiTO Gioachino, in medical and surgical Institutions, will lecture on Methodology 
and History of medicine, and afterward on. general, medical and surgical Pathology, at half 
past 8, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

Malinverni Sisto Germano, in pathologic Anatomy, will lecture on it, at the 
hospital of St. John, at three-quarters past 9, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

Demaria Carlo, in legal Medicine, will lecture on it, and especially on Toxicology, 
at three-quarters past 9, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

Majoli Giacomo, in theoretical and practical Surgery, will lecture on Inflamations 
and on their consequences, in regard to surgery, on Tumors generally, on organic, dynamic 
diseases of the bones and articulations, at a quarter past 9, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and 
Saturdays ; he will also, at 8 o'clock at the Charity Hospital teach the Clinic of syphi- 
litic diseases, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. 

Demichelis Giuseppe, in materia Medica, after having given the General Principles, 
will lecture onpurgative, anthelmintic, secretive aud hyposthenic Medicaments, at half 

past 9, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

BoNACOssA Giovanni, principal physician of the Royal Lunatic Asylum, in the 
Clinic of mental diseases, will teach this Clinic in the said asylum, at half past 9, 
Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

N. N. in anatomy, in the first five months after having given an Introduction, he will 
teach descriptive Anatomy on the subject, at the amphitheatre of the hospital of St. John, 
and in the three last months he will lecture ore the general Anatomy of tissues of the hu- 
man system, at three-quarters past 11, every day. 

CoNTi Matted, the dissector of the anatomical theatre, will take the place of the 
above professors, when prevented from lecturing. 

The students of medical and surgical science are trained in the practice 
of the profession in the hospitals of the Capital, of which we shall give 
here a short sketch : 

The Hospital of St. John the Baptist was founded in the fourteenth 
century. It receives all medical and surgical patients, with the exception 
of those suffering from contagious diseases. It has 418 beds, of which 
213 are occupied by those affected internally, 109 by external, and 96 by 
chronic diseases. There are also private rooms for individuals, who can 
afford to pay moderate charges. The number of patients annually 
received at the hospital is between five and six thousand. The two pro- 
fessors of the medical clinic have 14 beds each, for the instruction of the 
students, and the professor of surgical clinic has 6 in the hall of men, 
and as many in the hall of women for the same purpose. Twenty-one 
students of the faculty are selected among the best, who assist the ordi- 
nary physicians, and in return receive either free board or an annual pe- 
cuniary allowance. 

The Hospital of Saints Maurice and Lazarus was founded in 1572, 
with the object of treating those acute diseases which are not contagious. 
It receives every year about a thousand patients ; eight students of the 
university are appointed for the service of the hospital and the assistance 
of the ordinary physicians, and enjoy the same privileges of those of the 
hospital of St. John. 

The Mn^iTART Hospital of the Division of Turin. — Its object is to re- 
ceive the sick soldiers and oflBcers, whose station is in the Division of Turin. 
It has 430 beds, and affords the occasion of practical instruction to 
those students, who wish to become physicians and surgeons of the army. 



SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 41 

For their assistance to the hospital they receive also free board, and are 
obliged to follow the courses of the university. 

The Institution and the Hospital of St. Louis Gonzaga. — It was 
founded in 1794, with the object of aiding and nursing the sick who could 
not be admitted to other hospitals, on account of the nature of their dis- 
eases. The institution provides also with medical advice, visits, remedies, 
and comforts at their own home those, who do not wish to be brought to 
the hospital. This has 200 beds, and receives by preference patients 
affected by consumption, cancer, chronic dropsy, scurvy, and leprosy. 

The Maternity Hospital, in which the obstetric clinic is established, 
receives about six hundred patients a year. There is also in this hospital 
the school for midwives, with eight or ten pupils. 

The Royal General Charity House, of which we spoke above, is the 
seat of the school for the clinic of syphilitic diseases ; four students of the 
university are appointed to assist the physicians of the hospital, and they 
receive the same allowances as in the other institutions. 

The Royal Lunatic Asylum affords the pupils the occasion of studying 
mental diseases, the clinic of which is here practiced. The asylum con- 
tains two hundred and fifty patients, of both sexes, and supports four 
students for their assistance. 

The Ophthalmic Dispensary affords free advice, remedies, and cure to 
the poor ; patients who can afford it pay a small sum for their board and 
lodging. It contains two hundred patients. 

The Orthopedic Establishment was founded in 1823, with the object of 
curing the crippled, maimed, and deformed, etc. It has acquired a great 
reputation, and it is considered as one of the first establishments of the kind 
in Europe. 

Faculty of Belles-lettres and Rational Philosophy. This faculty 
prepares doctors and professors of rhetoric and philosophy. No one can 
be appointed professor of these departments, or allowed to teach either in 
public or private schools, if he has not completed the established courses 
and obtained the diploma of Doctorship from the faculty.* 

The Course of Belles-lettres, is given by seven professors, and em- 
braces the following subjects : 1st, Greek grammar and general Grammar ; 
2d, Italian literature ; 3d, Latin Literature ; 4th, Greek Literature ; 5th, 
ancient History ; 6th, modern History ; 7th, Roman and Greek Archaeol- 
ogy. This course is divided into four years ; in the first yea7% the stu- 
dents are taught Greek and general grammar, Italian and Latin Hterature, 
and Roman Archaeology ; in the second year, Itahan, Latin and Greek 
literature, ancient history, and Greek archgeology. In the third and 
fourth years, Itahan, Latin and Greek literature, ancient and modem 
history. 

The Course of Rational Philosophy possesses three chairs: 1st, 

* To the chairs of this faculty we must add three more, recently established by a law of 
the Parliament, viz.: 1st, Philosophy of history ; 2d, Geography and Statistics ; 3d, French 
literature. As the professors of these chairs are not yet appointed, we can not publish the 
programme of these branches of instruction. 
4 



42 SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

Metaphysics ; 2d, Moral Philosophy ; 3d, History of the ancient Philoso- 
phy. The students are obliged also to attend the lectures on Italian and 
Latin literature, on general Methodology, on the higher Geometry, and 
natural Sciences, which are delivered by the professors of other faculties. 
The subjects are divided as follows: 

In the Jirst year, Metaphysics, higher Geometry, Latin literature, Chem- 
istry ; second yea?; Metaphysics, History of ancient Philosophy, phj^sical 
Science, and Italian literature ; third year; Metaphysics, Moral Philosophy, 
History of Philosophy, Mineralogy, Zoology; fourtli year, Metaphysics, 
Moral Philosophy, History of Philosophy, and general Methodology. 

The course of Method, which is connected with this faculty, does not 
intend to give any diploma of Doctorship, but only to prepare professors 
for the provincial schools of method. From these professors the pro- 
vincial inspectors of elementary instruction are generally selected. The 
course is completed in two j^cars; in the^?'6-^, the students learn general 
Chemistry, Mineralogy, Botany and Zoology, attending the lectures of the 
professors of these sciences, and prepare themselves for an examination 
on all the subjects,which enter into the programme of the four elementa- 
ry classes. In the second they attend the lectures on Pedagogy, and on 
Method, both general and special, applicable to the elementary schools. 

"With this faculty a normal school is also connected, for the preparation 
of the professors of Latin grammar. The course is also completed in two 
years ; in the first, the students attend the courses of institutions of 
belles-lettres, of Greek and general grammar, of ancient History, and 
Archaeology. In the second, they attend the lectures on Italian and Latin 
literature, on method applied to the instruction of the Latin and Italian 
languages, on ancient History, and Archaeology. 

The doctors in belles-lettres and on phi]osophy,who come from this fac- 
ulty, are appointed by the government to the chairs of those departments 
in the royal or national colleges. Their salaries are paid by the govern- 
ment, and after thirty years of employment, they are entitled to retire 
with a pension equal to their full salary. Their widows and children un- 
der age are also entitled to a pension. This provision is applied to all the 
oflScers of the government, and thus to all the professors of the colleges 
and of the universities. 

The following is the catalogue of the fticulty for the year 1856-7 : 

Par A VIA Alessandro,* in Italian Literature, will lecture on the Pleasure of Poetry, 
and on differences between a didactic Poem, and a Treatise ; he will also continue the 
critical history of the tragic Theatre from Trissino to Alfieri, at 12 o'clock, Mondays and 
Wednesd:iys ; on Fridays the Students will read their compositions in verse and prose, on 
which he will make his critical observations ; and on Thursdays, at 3 o'clock, he will contin- 
ue his lectures on the History of the country, from Count Amedeus VII. 

Bakucchi Francesco, member of the supreme Council of instruction, in History and 
Archasology, will lecture on Roman history and Archaeology, on Mondays, Wednesdays 
and Fridays, at 10 o'clock. 

Prieri Bartolomeo, member of the Council of the University, in Greek literature, 
will explain in the first three months some historical passages of Xenophonand Herodotus ; 
then two Philipics of Demosthenes, and at the end of the year some passages of Homer, 
on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, at 12 o'clock. 

Vallauri Tommaso, in Latin Literature, will lecture on the critical History of Latin 



SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 43 

Liferahire, from the death of Augustus to the Emperor Adrian ; he will also comment on some 
passages fr.o?n the Histories of Tacitus, from the Satires of Juvenal, and from the Roman 
history of C. ytllejits Patercidus ; besides, on one day of the week he will give his crit- 
icism on the compositions of the Students, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, at 11 
o'clock. 

Danxa Casimiro, member of the general Council of the elementary schools, will 
lecture on the Institutions of Belles-lettres, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Satur- 
days, at 3 o'clock. 

Bona Bartolomeo, in Greek and general Grammar, ivill explain the critical Grammar 
of Greek, and will develop the theories of the most arcomplislied modern philologists ; he 
will also exercise the Students on the interpretation of Greek writers, on Mondays, Wed- 
nesdays and Fridays, at 9 o'clock. He will lecture, on Saturdays, at 9 o'clock, on 
the Philosophy of language, and will apply the general principles to the classical languages. 

Rayneri Giovanni Antonio, member of the general Council of the elementary 
schools, in Methodology, will lecture on general Method, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and 
Saturdays, at 11 o'clock. 

RicoTTi Ercole, in modern History, after having pointed out the most important 
changes which have occurred in Europe, from Wi2 to 1700, will lecture on the History of 
Europe, from 1700 to 1789, and more particularly on the History of France and of Italy, on 
Mondays and Fridays, at 11 o'clock. On Wednesdays he will exercise the Students ore 
the knowledge of the historical imters, and on historical teaching. 

Bertini Giovanni Maria, member of the general Council of the elementary schools, 
and an extraordinary member of the supreme Council of public instruction, on the his- 
tory of ancient Philosophy, will lecture on the History of Philosophy, from Descartes to 
our times, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 10 o'clock. 

Berti Domenico, in Moral Philosophy, will lecture on the comparative History of the 
principal syste7ns of Moral Philosophy, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at 12 
o'clock.^ 

Peirotti Giovanni Battista, in Metaphysics, will lecture on Theological Meta- 
physics, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, at 10 o'clock. 

Flechia Giovanni, on Sanscrit, will lecture on the Grammar of Sanscrit, and will 
interpret Visvamotra, an Episode of the Rama j ana ; he will also e.xplain some fables frotn 
the Hitopadesa, and two hymns of the Rigveda, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, 
at 10 o'clock. 

Schiaparelli Luigi, will take place of the professor of History and Archaeology. 

Bertinaria Francesco will take place of the professors of Philosophy. 

RiCHETTi Carlo and Bachialoni Carlo will take place of professor of Method, 
vhen prevented from lecturing. 

Faculty of Physical Sciences and Mathematics. — This faculty em- 
braces the following courses: 1st, Physical Science and Geometry; 2d, 
Natural History ; 3d, Chemistry ; 4th, Mathematics ; 5th, Architecture. 

The course of Physical Science and Geometry is attended by the stu- 
dents who intend to become professors of these sciences in the secondary 
schools. It comprehends the lectures of the following chairs : 1st, Finite 
and Infinitesimal Analysis ; 2d, Descriptive Geometry ; 3d, Experimental 
Physical Science ; 4th, Superior Physical Science ; 5th, Chemistry ; 6th, 
Mineralogy ; 7th, Zoology ; 8th, Botany. The lectures are divided in the 
following order, through four years : 1st yea?; Experimental Physical 
Science, Finite analysis. Linear Drawing : 2d year., Experimental Physical 
Science, Differential and Integral Calculation, Chemistry ; Bdyear, superior 
Physical Science, Mineralogy, Zoology, and Descriptive Geometry; Ath 
year, Superior Physical Science, Botany, practical experiments of Physical 
Science and Chemistry. 

The courses of Natural History and Chemistry intend to prepare 
professors of these sciences for the secondary schools. They embrace the 
following subjects: 1st, Algebra and higher Geometry ; 2d, Physical ex- 
perimental Science ; 3d, Chemistry ; 4th, Mineralogy ; 5th, Zoology ; 6th, 
Botany. The subjects prescribed for the course of natural history are 
divided through four years, as follows : In the first year, the students 
attend the lectures on experimental Physical Science, Chemistry, Algebra 



44 SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

and superioi' Geometry ; in the second year, on Chemistry, Mineralogy, 
Zoology and Botany ; in the third year, Mineralogy, Zoology, and Botany ; 
in the fourth yea); Mineralogy, Zoology, and Botany. The subjects for 
the course of Chemistry follow this order : Jlrst year, experimental Phys- 
sical Science, Botany, Algebra, and superior Geometry ; second year, exper- 
imental Physical Science, Chemistry, Zoology, and practical experiments 
in Chemistry ; third year. Chemistry, Mineralogy, technical Chemistry, and 
practical experiments in Chemistry ; fourth year, attendance at the labo- 
ratory of Chemistry, and the lectures on agricultural Chemistry. 

The course of Mathematics proposes to prepare hydraulic engineers. 
The}'- are requested to attend the lectures, 1st, on Algebra ; 2d, on plain 
and spherical Trigonometry ; 3d, on analytic Geometry ; 4th, on infinites- 
imal Analysis, differential and integral Calculus ; 5th, on descriptive 
Geometry ; 6th, on rational Mechanics, and on Machines ; 7th, on practi- 
cal Geometry ; 8th, on Hydraulics; 9th, on Architecture; 10th, on Build- 
ings, and on Chemistry applied to the art of building. The order is as 
follows ; 1st year. Algebra, plain and spherical Trigonometry, analytical 
Geometry, architectural Drawing ; 2(Z year, infinitesimal Analysis, differ- 
ential and integral Calculus, descriptive Geometry, Architect0e ; ^d 
year, rational Mechanics, Machines, practical Geometry, Architecture ; 4:th 
year, Hydraulics, Buildings, and Chemistry applied to the art of building. 
Should the students of this course intend to obtain also the diploma of 
civil architects, besides the diploma of hydraulic engineers, they are 
obliged to attend, in the fourth year of their course, the lectures on Civil 
Architecture. 

The COURSE of Civil Architecture proceeds through four years, on the 
following subjects ; 1st, algebraic Analysis ; 2d, descriptive Geometry ; 3d, 
practical Geometry ; 4th, rational Mechanics ; 5th, Architecture ; 6th, 
Buildings, and Chemistry applied to the art of building. The lectures 
follow this order : \st year, Architecture, algebraical Analysis ; 2(i year. 
Architecture, descriptive Geometry ; %d year. Architecture, practical Ge- 
ometry, rational Mechanics ; ^th year, Architecture, Building, experiments 
on Chemistry applied to the art of building. 

Besides the preceding courses, a course for the education of Apotheca- 
ries is connected partially with this faculty, and partially with the faculty 
of medicine and surgery. This course is of two years, and embraces the 
following subjects : 1st, Mineralogy ; 2d, Botany ; 8d, organic and inor- 
ganic Chemistry ; 4th, Pharmacy, Toxicology, Chemistry, History of drugs; 
5th, Exercises in preparations. The students are obliged to attend the 
lectures of all these subjects in both the years of their course. Besides 
this course and the relative examinations, the candidates are obliged to 
spend two years as assistants in a licensed pharmacy, to pass an exami- 
nation in this practice, and to sustain a public disputation on Mineralogy, 
Botany, Chemistry, and theoretical and practical Pharmacy. 

For the profession of Land Surveyors, there is no public course pre- 
scribed, but the students arc obliged to file their names in the register of 
the university, declaring their intention of studying for that profes- 



SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 45 

sion. After this, they are obliged to study and to practice for three years 
under the direction of an engineer, architect or land surveyor, to be cho- 
sen by themselves, and to pass afterward a private and a public examina- 
tion, at the university, on the subject of their courses. 

The catalogue of the faculty for the year 1856-7 is as follows : 

Plana Giovanm, vice-president of the supreme Council of public instruction, in 
Analysis, will lecture on the introduction to the Infinitesimal Analysis, and on the Elements 
of differential and integral Calculus, at half past 11 o'clock, every day. 

Morris Giuseppe, member of the supreme Council of public instruction, in Botany, 
will lecture on Organography, Glossology, vegetable Physiology, and Tassonomy ; he will also 
undertake excursions in the neighborhood of the city, in which he will exercise his Students in 
determining Species ; he will point out the natural families, (3d series,) arid the medicinal, 
economical, and industrial plants in the botanic garden ; finally, he will lecture on the distri- 
bution of vegetables on the superficies of the globe, at half past 10, on Mondays and Fri- 
days, till April, then every day, at half past 9. 

SisMONDA Angelo, member of the Council of the university, in Mineralogy, after 
having given the general principles of Mineralogy, will lecture on Flint Stone and its com- 
pounds, and on fossil combustibles, every day, at a quarter past 8. 

PoLLONE Ignazio, extraordinary member of the supreme Council of public in- 
struction, and member of the general Council for the elementary schools, in Analysis, 
will lecture on algebraic Analysis, on Trigonometry, and on analytical Geometry, at half past 
1], every day. 

Promis Carlo, in civil Architecture, will lecture on it, at half past 9, every day. 

Menabrea Luigi Federigo, in Construction, will give the Theory of construction, 
on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at half past 10 ; and on Thursdays will apply 
the theory to special cases. 

Defilippi Filippo, in Zoology, after having given the general Ideas of the Structure 
atid functio?is of animals, will lecture on molhisks, etc., and at the close of the year, will give 
a course of lectures on parts of the human body, at half past 8, every day. 

Abbene Angelo, in Pharmaceutic Chemistry, after an Introduction, will lecture on 
Galenic Medicaments, and then on Medicaments taken from the inorganic kingdom, on Tues- 
days, Thursdays and Saturdays, at half past 10. In the two last months he ttJiZZ Zec- 
ture on chemical Toxicology. 

RiCHELMi Prospero, in Hydraulics, will lecture on this subject, every day, at 
half past 8 ; at the close of the year he will make hydraulic experiments at the Royal 
Hydraulic Tower, during the mornings. 

Erba Giuseppe Bartolomeo, in Algebra and superior Geometry, will lecture on 
these subjects, every day, at a quarter past 8. 

Feekati Camillo, in practical Geometry, will lecture on it everyday, at half past 11 ; 
on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he will lecture on descriptive Geometry, at 3 
o'clock. 

Chio Felice, in Superior Physical Science, will lecture on it, at half past 2, on Mon- 
days, Wednesdays and Fridays. 

Piria Rafaelle, in general Chemistry, after having given the general principles and 
laws of Chemistry, will lecture on Inorga?iic and Organic Bodies, at half past 9; he will 
make occasionally practical experiments. 

N. N, in general and experimental Physical Science, will lecture on it, making 
occasionally public experiments, at 2 o'clock, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 

Delponte Gio Batta will take place of the professor of Botany. 

SisMONDA Eugenio will take place of the professor of Mineralogy. 

Sobrero Ascanio, in Chemistry applied to arts and industry, will lecture on Chemis- 
try applied to the Art of construction. 

Bkuno Giuseppe will take place of the professors of Mathematics. 

CiMA Antonio will take place of the professor of Physical Science. 

Borsarelli Pietro will take place of the professor of Pharmaceutic Chemistry, 
when prevented from lecturing. 

The method of teaching is by lectures and by experiments in the ex- 
perimental branches. Most of the professors publish elementary treat- 
ises on the subjects of their lectures, which are valuable both to the stu- 
dents and professors. These are also required to point out in their lec- 
tures and treatises the principal writers to be consulted by the students 
on the subjects of their study. 

The discipline of the students is maintained by the same system, which 
is followed in the secondary schools. Indeed we should say, that expulsion 



46 SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

from the university is the only punishment, which can be apphed by 
the scholastic authorities ; we must also say, that the occasion very sel- 
dom arises of applying such a punishment. The Rector of the university 
is especially charged with the discipline of the institution. 

Connected with the university, and under the direction of the govern- 
ment, there is a Royal College of the Provinces, founded and endowed 
by the munificence of the kings of Sardinia and enriched by legacies of 
private benevolence. This is an establishment, in which the students are 
furnished with free board and lodging through all the course of the 
university, and with every aid in their studies and education. The royal 
college of the provinces disposes of about one hundred and fifty free places, 
which are given as a reward to those students, who have passed the most 
successful examinations. These examinations are opened whenever a 
vacancy occurs, and those students only can present themselves who have 
completed the secondary courses, and who are born in that province, to 
which belongs the vacant place. The students of the royal college of the 
provinces are also exempted from the examination fees. 

After having completed the full course of the faculty, and having 
passed successfully all the annual examinations prescribed by law, the 
students are requested to enter upon a public disputation for obtaining 
the Doctorship. This disputation is upon subjects selected from those of 
the course, and published by the candidate. The discussion is sus- 
tained before the faculty, in which the collegiate doctors fill the office of 
examiners and opponents. The faculty afterward decides by ballot upon 
the merit of the candidate, bestowing upon him the Doctorship or reject- 
ing his application. 

The names of the students, who distinguished themselves in the exam- 
inations, are published at the close of the year, in the official paper. 

From the colleges under the direction of the university of Turin, 740 
students presented themselves in the year 1855-56 for examination pre- 
paratory to admission to the courses of the university, of which 607 were 
admitted, and 133 rejected. In the year 1856-7 there are in the univer- 
sity 1433 students, of which 2 belong to the faculty of theology, 709 to 
the faculty of jurisprudence, 2G4 to the faculty of medicine and surgery, 
11 to the course of obstetric clinic, 17 to phlebotomy, 182 to pharmacy, 
36 to the course of physical science and geometry, 7 to natural history, 
16 to rational philosophy, 138 to the course of mathematics, 4 to the course 
of architecture, 32 to belles-lettres, 7 to methodology, 8 to the course of 
Latin grammar. Adding to this number the students, who pursued some 
part of their course in some provincial city, we have the total number of 
students 1858. 

In the university of Genoa there were, according to the latest statistics, 
556 students, of which 6 belonged to the faculty of theology, 282 to jur- 
isprudence, 182 to medicine, surgery, and pharmacy, 86 to mathematics 
and architecture. The number of the students of the university of Cag- 
liari was 325, of which 53 of theology, 125 of jurisprudence, 130 of med- 
icine, surgery, and pharmacy, 11 of architecture, 6 of geodesy. Th" 



SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 4Y 

number of the university of Sassari was 245, of which 43 of theology, 
123 of jurisprudence, 76 of medicine, surgery, and pharmacj^ From 
the colleges which depend upon the university of Genoa, there pass an- 
nually to the classes of the university an average of 201 students, from 
that of Cagliari 120, from Sassari 94, and the students who obtain an- 
nually the doctorships in the university of Turin reach an average of 625, 
in that of Genoa 140, in that of Cagliari 74, in that of Sassari 49. 

The number of the professors in the university of Turin, including 
those of the cities of Chambery and Nice is 89, of Genoa 46, of Cagliari 
34, of Sassari 29. Their salary is not uniform, being greater in Turin than 
in the other universities. 

The university of Turin possesses for the aid of the intellectual edu- 
cation of its students the following institutions, the free use of which 
belongs to the professors, as well as to the scholars and the people at 
large. 

1. A Public Librart, which was founded by Emanuel Philibert, en- 
dowed by other kings, especially by Victor Amedeus II, and enriched by 
private donations. The hbrary contains more than one hundred and ten 
thousand volumes, among which the collection of works on theology, jur- 
isprudence, politics, medicine, and surgery, is the most complete. The 
principal treasures of the library are the Arabic, Greek, Latin, Italian, 
and French MSS. It possesses also many rare editions of the century 
in which the press was discovered, not a few of which are on parchments, 
among tiiese the Polyglot of Antwerp, which was presented to the Duke 
Emanuel Philibert by Philip II. of Spain. There are also over one 
hundred MSS., of the remotest antiquity, on parchment, and a very rich 
collection of books on the fine arts, of ancient and modern prints, and 
drawings. The collection of Floras is complete, and there are many 
choice and rare editions of Arabic, Persian, Chaldaic and Hindoo books. 

2. Anatomical Theatre. — The new anatomical theatre was founded 
by Charles Albert. Its architecture is simple and elegant in its construc- 
tion, and it is surmounted by a roof of glass. Within are pipes, spouts, 
washing tubes, polished floors, and marble tables. The spacious hall destin- 
ed to dissections is provided with all the improvements, which health and 
cleanliness require in anatomical operations. Under the main amphithe- 
atre tiiere is a spacious vault, where the subjects are deposited, and from 
which they are raised by means of a machine to a room above, where 
they are washed and laid on a marble table, and at the hour for the lec- 
ture, elevated by the same means to the floor of the amphitheatre, and 
placed in their position before the professor and the students. By other 
mechanical contrivances the subject approaches or withdraws from the 
professor. The light of the hall is so regulated, as to modify it according 
to the occasions. The walls of this hall are plastered with calcareous 
stucco, and are adorned with four great medallions, representing Ber- 
TRANDi, CiGNA, Malacarne, and Rolando. Near the amphitheatre, there 
is a room appropriated for the use of the dissector, provided with all the 
contrivances for experiments. Between the yard of the anatomical theatre 



48 SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

and that of the great hospital of St. John, there is a subterranean 
communication, which facilitate the transportation of the subjects. 

3. Anatomical Pathological Museum. — This museum contains many 
preparations of the systems and parts of the human body, embiyos at 
different periods, pathological sections in an abnormal state. Among the 
most remarkable collections of this museum we may mention the collec- 
tion of bones decomposed by syphilitic diseases, and by the use of mer- 
cury ; the general osteomalacy, in which bones are light and spongy ; the 
osteosarcoma of an elbow, which is larger than the head of a man ; and 
the specimens of aneurism. 

4. ChexMical Labokatories and Amphitheatre. — There are six spa- 
cious rooms for the use of the laboratories, in which we find admirably 
arranged stoves and ovens, scales, and other instruments, and chemical 
and pharmaceutic preparations. The amphitheatre is designed for public 
lectures, and will seat five hundred pupils so advantageously, that the 
most minute experiments can be observed. 

5. Botanic Garden. — The botanic garden was founded by Victor 
Amedeus II., and endowed and improved by his successors. Under 
Charles Albert the limits were enlarged, new canals made, and new pipes 
added in order to facilitate the irrigation of the plants ; the trees and 
shrubs, which will grow in the open air, were planted and arranged, ac- 
cording to their natural classification in a suitable grove, in which we find 
also the officinal and economic species, methodically arranged. The same 
king purchased for the garden the rich collection of American plants 
brought to Piedmont by the botanist Bertero, and the plants of the islands 
of Sardinia and Capraja were added. The number of the cultivated 
species is about eleven thousand, including many of great rarity. 

The species of the herbarium exceed forty thousand. There is also a 
collection of indigenous mushrooms, arranged in three hundred and fifty 
groups, cast in wax according to nature. The king has recently presented 
to the garden a beautiful collection of living plants, seeds, and woods 
brought from Brazil by the Prince of Carignano, and a not less interesting 
collection of dry species, seeds and fruits, for the study of carpology, 
gathered by Dr. Casaretto, in his excursion to the same country. 

As early as 1732, the plants which blossom in the garden were painted, 
and that work having been continued to this time, the institution has a 
most complete botanic iconography, which contains more than five 
thousand plates in folio. 

6. Cabinet of Physical Apparatus. — This collection began to be 
formed in 1721, was enriched by Charles Emmanuel III., and increased by 
Beccaria. Charles Felix sent Professor Botto to France and England, to 
purchase all the modern apparatus required by the cabinet, and many 
fine instruments, especially relating to optics, were added to it by him. 

7. Astronomic Observatory. — The observatory was located in the 
year 1820 on the northern tower of the four, which arise at the angle of 
the ancient palace of the Royal Castle, now used for the meetings of the 
Senate. The hall of the observatory is beautifully arranged, and its walls 



SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 



49 



adorned with many medallions, representing Lagkange, Galileo, Ttcho 
Brahe, Newton, Kepler, and Cassinl The meridian circle is erected be- 
tween two marble columns in the centre of the hall, and can be turned 
east or west, at the pleasure of the observer. This instrument was con- 
structed in Munich by Reichenbach, and has a diameter of three feet, di- 
vided on silver into arcs of a sixtieth, and reads to two seconds. The clear 
aperture of the telescope is of 12 centimeters, and its focal length of a meter 
and six hundred millimeters. Among the other instruments, we may men- 
tion a pendulum, which gives the sidereal time, constructed by Martin 
of Paris, two other telescopes by Dollond, one with an aperture of 65 
millimeters, and of a focal length of a meter, the other of an aperture of 
a decimeter, and with a focal length of a meter, and 50 centimeters. 
There is a fourth telescope, by Fraunhofcr of Munich, mounted on a 
brass tripod, with an aperture of 75 millimeters, and a focal length of a 
meter. There is also a reflector-sextant, by Troughton of London, with 
a diameter of two decimeters, divided on silver, which reads to five sec- 
onds. Ascending to the turning roof on the east, we find a Refractor 
circle of a diameter of 50 centimeters, divided on silver, which reads to 
four seconds, the work of Reichenbach. On the west side of the roof is an 
Equatorial, which has a circle of declination of a diameter of 62 centime- 
ters, divided in silver, and reads to five seconds. The clock has a 
diameter of 45 centimeters, divided on silver, and marks minutes. 

8. Hydraulic Building. — This builiding is erected at a distance of 
two miles fi-om the city. It consists of a large tower, with three floors, 
and it can be filled with water from a conduct above. Two large reser- 
voirs receive the water fi:-om the tower and measure it ; there are besides 
many aqueducts with different declivities and directions, and a collection 
of hydrometric apparatus and instruments. 

9. ZooLOGic Museum. — Founded during the reign of Charles Emmanuel 
III., it received many donations from private sources, and was greatly in- 
creased by professors Borson and Bonelli ; at present it is one of the 
best museums in Italy. The different classes of animals are arranged in 
two large halls, in a long gallery, and in many other rooms. The ver- 
tebrates, cephalopods, molluscs, and zoophyts occupy large convenient 
shelves ; the living and fossil shells are disposed in elegant cases ; the 
Crustacea and insects fill a great number of cases. The invertebrates 
and testacea are abundant, as well as the shells both living and fossil. 
Among the living shells is worthy of being mentioned an avicula 
margaritifera, in which a pearl can be seen, wonderful for its volume and 
for its form. The fossils embrace a collection of shells discovered in the 
tertiaria of Italy, and especially of Piedmont. Finally, a series of 
skeletons of rare animals well kept and arranged. 

10. Mineralogic Museum. — This collection embraces many specimens 
of minerals, rocks and earth of different countries, and especially of 
Piedmont, and of the island of Sardinia. It occupies two great halls, 
where the objects are exhibited either in shelves, on tables, or in cases 
enclosed by glasses. 



50 SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

11. Museum of Antiquities. — Among these, the coins take the first and 
most important part, and number fifteen thou.sand, Egyptian, Greek, 
Etruscan and Roman, of gold, silver and copper. The collection of mar- 
ble statues, busts and heads is not large ; there is a Cupid sleeping on 
a lion's skin ; a head of Antinous crowned with a garland of vine leaves, 
like a Bacchante ; here is also a mosaic work, which was discovered in 
the island of Sardinia, and represents Orpheus playing the lyre, surround- 
ed by different animals. Among the statuettes of bronze, Etruscan, Greek, 
Roman, and Sardinian, may be mentioned a Pallas, a Faunus, many 
tablets of bronze with Roman inscriptions, a collection of ancient vases 
either of bronze or of silver, and a collection of Etruscan vases, many 
of which were discovered in Piedmont. 

12. Egyptian Museum. — It is perhaps the most complete in Europe. 
It was enriched by Charles Felix, who bought a great quantity of these 
monuments fi-om Chevalier Drovetti, a Picdmontese, who occupied the 
place of French consul in Egypt. Here are statues of the ancient Phar- 
aohs, many colossal, and all made of one piece, either of spotless granite, 
or of green and black basalt, or of calcareous stone. There are many 
statues of ancient kings, or representing gods and goddesses, sacred ani- 
mals, and mythic emblems ; they are of different sizes from the colossal 
downward. More than two hundred square boards, either carved or 
painted, represent persons offering food, flowers or fruits. One of them, 
the other half of which is preserved in the Vatican Museum, represents 
Sesonchi, the chief of the 22d dynasty, who lived ten centuries before 
Christ ; then we meet a collection of objects of worship : such are two 
altars of black granite, many marble and stone tables for the offering and 
the libation, sacred vases of different material and size, perfume vases 
of stone and of terra-cotta, loaves, grapes, grains, fruits — the specimens 
of scarabeus, a symbol most venerated by the Egyptians, amount to two 
thousand. There are a great number of mummies ; — their linen or cotton 
wrappers, and wooden cases, as well as the mummies themselves, are ad- 
mirably kept and preserved. Here are also many cases containing the 
mummies of animals, cats, fishes, hawks, reptiles, crocodiles, &c. In 
the museum are also exhibited more than two hundred rolls, or volumes 
of papyrus, which belong to the epoch in which Egypt was under the 
sway of Persia, and thence forward to the times of the Ptolemies and of 
Rome. Some are written on linen, some on parchment, wood, stone, or 
terra-cotta, in the Egyptian, Greek, or Coptic language, in hieroglyphic, 
hieratic or demotic signs. There are likewise linen, clothes, leather 
stockings, intertwined with palm leaves, vases of copper, of alabaster, etc. 

IV. GENERAL DIKECTION AND SUPERVISION OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 

Before the year 1847, the general direction of public education belong- 
ed to the secretary of the Interior ; but in reality it was in the hands of 
a council of instruction, called Magistrato della Ri forma agli Str(di, the 
members of which were appointed by the king, and which exercised full 
jurisdiction, and had an absolute power over all the scholastic institutions 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 5I 

of the country. In that year this Board was abolished, and a special de- 
partment of public instruction created with a minister at its head, who 
takes an equal rank* with the other seven secretaries of state, who com- 
pose the cabinet of the administration. It belongs to this department 
to diffuse and to promote through all the country scientific and literaiy 
education, and to aid the progress of the fine arts. It has the supreme 
direction of all the universities of the state and all the other scientific or 
educational establishments, of the national, royal, and municipal colleges 
and schools, whether classic, technical or primary, either public or 
private, whether for boys, girls, or adults. The appointments of all pro- 
fessors, teachers, inspectors, superintendents, and officers of the instruc- 
tion supported by the state come under the jurisdiction of this de- 
partment, and to its approbation the appointments made by municipalities 
or other corporations for their own institutions must be submitted. It 
determines to what pupils free board is to be granted in the institutions 
of the state, and presides over the administration of legacies bestowed 
upon educational establishments. It promulgates regulations for their 
management, programmes of instruction, and methods of teaching, ap- 
proves text-books, and establishes the rules of discipline. All other 
scholastic authorities, councils of universities and councils of faculties, 
permanent committees for the secondary schools, inspectors, both of secon- 
dary and of primary instruction, general councils for elementary instruc- 
tion, provincial and coUegial councils, royal, provincial, and local superin- 
tendents, presidents of boarding schools, directors of instruction, and all 
similar officers depend on the ministry of public instruction, and ai'e 
referred to it, as to the central power and the highest authority. 

Soon after, in 1848, a Supreme Council of Public Instruction was 
created, {Consiglio snperiore dclla istruzione inMica^ and attached to 
the ministry, with the object of aiding and assisting it in the administra- 
tion of the department. The council is presided over by the minister 
himself, and is composed of a vice-president, seven ordinary and five ex- 
traordinary members, appointed by the government, the former during 
life, the latter for three years. Five of the ordinary members must be 
chosen from among the professors of each faculty of some of the universi- 
ties, while the two others can not belong to any university, but must be 
elected from among persons of high, scientific or literary repute ; the ex- 
traordinary members may be either professors or collegiate doctors. 
Thus the general administration of public instruction was organized in 
1848, and coordinated with all the other scholastic authorities, which were 
established over its different branches. Though a decided improvement 
on the former system, this organization has been proved by an experience 
of eight years to be too complicated in its structure, and too weak in its 
operation. By creating so many councils of different branches of instruc- 
tion, as separate bodies, independent of each other, the law of 1848 

*C. Alfiei, C. Boncompttgni, V. Gioberti, F. Merlo, L. Cibrario, and P. Gioja, are tlie most 
prominent men, who have held this office. Dr. G. Lanza is the present incumbent; his noble char- 
acter and large educational views place him higli among the statesmen of Sardinia. 



52 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

tributed the scholastic government among too many centers, and the 
administration, losing its unity, became perplexed, confused, and power- 
less. Besides, the supreme council in its first organization was filled with 
permanent members, who though of a high standing in the scientific 
world, yet, belonging to a past age, did not represent the necessities and 
conditions of the new era, and were entirely unable to direct the nation- 
al education of the country conformably to its new institutions. Then, 
the council being mainly composed of one member from each faculty, it 
formed a body in its majority not qualified for making and enforcing pro- 
visions relative to any branches of learning, which were either imperfect- 
ly or not at all represented in that board. A like defect of organization 
was found in the subordinate authorities, where the power was too often 
entrusted to men lacking suflBcient knowledge of the condition of the 
scholastic system of the country. Add to this, that political questions 
since that time have absorbed all the activities of the country, and it will 
be easily understood why the new system of administration proved a sig- 
nal failure, and the necessity of a reform frequently arrested the attention 
of Parliament. 

It was not, however, until February, 1857, that the House of Deputies 
passed a bill establishing a new system of administration, which was 
afterward approved by the Senate, and promulgated by the King. As it 
changes the organization of the educational authorities of the country, 
and constitutes a new basis, on which henceforth its administration will 
rest, we subjoin the bill in full, leaving to time to decide, whether the sys- 
tem recently enacted can be considered a reform, and while the bill con- 
tains provisions suflicient to ensure the unity of the directive power, it 
gives at the same time adequate guarantees of a liberal administration. 

V. Budget op the Department of Public Instkuction. 
The expenses authorized by the Parliament for the support of educa- 
tion, under the direction of the department of public instruction, during 
the year 1857, amount to the sum of 2,031,989 francs, viz.: 

For the executive department of public instruction, 88,750 francs. 

" supreme council of public instruction, 16,500 

" general council of elementary and teachers' schools, . . . 9,300 

" university councils and offices of the four universities, . . 91,221 

" royal scholastic superintendents 49,959 

" inspectors of secondary schools, 14,500 

" instruction in the universities, 492,862 

" university teaching in the provinces, 34,350 

" national, royal and municipal colleges, 600,580 

" technical schools, 77,540 

" veterinary school, 81,800 

The balaiice of the appropriation is devoted to the scientific establish- 
ments, museums, library, subsidies to elementary schools, &c. Ad- 
ding to this sum the amount raised and expended by the townships 
and provinces, for the support of public instruction, which reaches 
3,557,229 francs, we have a total expenditure of 5,589,216 francs. 

To enable our readers to institute a comparison between the other de- 
partments and that of public instruction, we give the expenditures of 
the different branches of the central administration, from the budget of 1856. 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. eg 

Department of finances, 75,44,753 francs. 

" " grace and justice, 4,328,351 " 

" " foreign affairs, 3,431,745 " 

" " public instruction, 2,045,254 " 

" " the interior, 7,601,846 " 

" " public works, 11,783,714 " 

" " war, 32,247,528 " 

" " navy, 4,355,061 " 

In the Scame year the revenues of the state amounted to 132,529,838 
francs. The estimated expenditure of the department of public instruction, 
as submitted to the Pariiament for the year 1858, is 2,100,709 francs. 

VI. Scientific and Artistic Establishments. 

To complete our exposition, we add a short account of some of the prin- 
cipal scientific and artistic estabHshments, which though not dependent 
on the Department of Instruction, yet greatly conduce to the general cul- 
ture of the people, to the advancement of science, and are the standard 
of the intellectual development of the country. 

Royal Academy of Sciences. — This academy was founded by private 
individuals, such as the Counts of Saluzzo, Lagrange and Cigna, who were 
soon joined by other celebrated men, as Alioni, Foncenex and Morozzo. 
In 1783, this private association was transformed into a public institution 
by a special privilege bestowed upon it by the Duke of Savoy, Victor 
Amedeus III., and very soon was illustrated by the names of Dantoni, 
Robilante, Debutet, Napione, Prospero Balbo and many others of great 
scientific or literary reputation. In more recent times the greatest men of 
the country have belonged to this academy, as the great chemist Giobert, 
Bidone the mathematician, Diodata Saluzzo the poetess, Provana, Lasca- 
ris, Bessone, Boucheron, and Eosmini. 

The Academy is divided into two classes, one of mathematical and phys- 
ical sciences, the other of moral, historical and philological sciences. 
When complete it numbers forty resident members, twenty for each 
class ; its officers are a President, Vice President, and a treasurer. More- 
over, each class is presided over by a Director and a Secretary. Besides these 
forty members who must be residents of Turin, the classes are allowed to 
elect ten other national members, either within or without the State. 
There are also twenty foreign members, ten for each class, among whom 
we find the most celebrated men of Europe. The number of corres- 
ponding members is not determined by the by-laws, and can be increased 
at the will of the academy. Each class offers, every year, a reward of a 
certain sum to the best work on some specified subject : twenty-four an- 
nual pensions of six hundred francs each are secured to the eldest 
members of the academy. 

In 1759 the first volume of the Academy was published under the title 
of Miscellanea pMlosopMco-matheviatica societatis privatce Taurinen- 
sis, which was received with great favor by all the scientific bodies of 
Europe. From 1759 to 1773 four other volumes were published, under 



54 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 



the title of Melanges de philosopJiie et cle mathematique de la Societe 
Boyale de Turin. Since 1783 the transactions of the Academy are pub- 
Ushcd under the title of Memorie della R. Academia delle Scienze di 
Torino, Llie first series of which embraces forty volumes. The second se- 
ries of the publications, which first made its appearance in 1839, now 
numbers fourteen volumes. 

The hall of the meetings of the Academy is adorned with the busts of 
its three founders, of King Victor Amedeus III., Denina, Vernazza and Ger- 
dil. The Academy possesses a very rich collection of medals and coins, 
Greek, Latin, and modern, of which a catalogue was published some 
years ago ; this collection w^as presented to the academy by one of its 
members, M. Lavy, who gave also to the institution eighteen marble 
busts of ancient Romans, which adorn the great Hall of the public meet- 
ings of the academy. It possesses besides a choice and rich library, 
which contains the acts of all the principal scientific Associations of the 
world, and a hundred and thirty-five Mexican volumes, seven hundred 
and seventy-eight from the United States, seventy from the Phillipine 
Islands, a hundred from China, forty-eight from the East Indies, and 
thirty-two Arabic and Syriac. In the palace of the academy, which was 
built according to the design of Guarini, we find also a Hall containing 
specimens of industrial works, models, drawings and lithographies, 
which is called the Hall of Arts and Mechanic Professions. 

Royal Military Academy. — This institution was designed for the chil- 
dren of the officers of the army, and is located in a large building, near 
the palace of the king. It was built by Charles Emmanuel II., after the 
design of Amedeus of Castellamonte, and was finished by Mary John 
Baptist, his widow, while Regent of the kingdom. During the minority 
of Victor Amedeus II., the original object of this academy was to re- 
ceive the pages of the court and young men belonging to the nobility, 
and to instruct them in the use of all kinds of weapons, in horseman.ship, 
dancing, mathematics, and belles-lettres. Though from the accounts of 
Alfieri, who was a pupil of that academy, we can not say that the instruc- 
tion given at that time by the institution had any claim to high scientific ex- 
cellence, still it had even then acquired great reputation for the accomplish- 
ments of the pupils, so that even at that time many Russian and English no- 
blemen placed their children under its direction. In the course of time the 
academy passed through many successive improvements and reforms, 
and as it now stands, has for its object the instruction in the art of 
war of young men intending to become oflScers in the army. There are 
two courses in the academy, one of five years for the ordinary departments, 
and the other of six for the learned departments. The first graduates 
non-commissioned officers, and the second lieutenants; who, however, 
must remain two years more in the institution, for the school of applica- 
tion, serving at the same time in some regiment. The various branches 
of instruction are intrusted to twenty professors, viz.: of Analysis and 
Mechanics, of descriptive Geometry, of Mathematics, of physical Science, 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 



65 



Chemistry and Statics, of Fortification, of Topography and Geodesy, of 
military Art and History, of Design, of Itahan Literature, of French 
Language, Dancing, Fencing, Gj^mnastics, and Swimming. There are 
besides two Directors of instruction, eight tutors, and a machinist, for 
keeping in order the philosophical apparatus, and aiding the professors of 
physical and chemical Sciences in their experiments. The pupils of the 
academy number about 200, part of whom receive free board, lodging 
and instruction, and part pay a moderate price for it. 

First General Corps of the Army, {Stato Maggiore Generale.) — This 
corps is composed of Officers of different ranks, of Engineers, Topo- 
graphic Designers and Engravers. It was created in the middle of the 
last century ; it has since been reformed and improved at different times. 
The subordinate officers are selected generally from the Koyal Military 
Academy, who follow the " learned " course, in which they are taught 
the special theories in relation to the different corps. Though members 
of this corps, they are required to continue their instructions in the acade- 
my, in order to acquire the practice of theories previously learned. In 
field-works, both trigonometric and topographic, which are annually un- 
dertaken, in order to survey the country and to draw its maps, young 
officers are employed under the direction of the older, so as to give them 
practice, to accustom their eyes to the measure of distances, to the 
knowledge of the physical forms of ground, to the appreciation of its 
strategic value and to the use of drawings and maps. 

The officers of this corps, in time of war, are obliged to reconnoitre the 
enemy, to observe their forces, their composition, dispositions and move- 
ments, to determine points to be fortified, and the nature and extent of 
the fortifications ; to open roads, to build bridges and other communica- 
tions, and to select quarters for the army. They also draw the maps for 
the use of the army, direct the administration of its provisions, preside 
over the discipline of the soldiers, the service of the guides, safeguards 
and explorers, the treatment of prisoners and of deserters. They keep 
the journal of all the operations of the army, and have the direction of 
the administrative department of war. In time of peace, they are destined 
especially to examine every part of the kingdom, and to draw the most 
remarkable places for military purposes, to gather the .statistics and his- 
torical facts relative to the same subject, to compose the regulations of 
the army, to draw from all military works whatever can be useful to the 
improvement of the national forces, and to direct the different works 
of topography and engraving, which are undertaken by the corps. 

The duties of the first general corps are relative to the service either of 
arms, or of the offices. The former is divided into three sections : 1st, 
of infentry and cavalry ; 2d, of artillery and engineering ; 3d, of general 
superior office. The latter embraces: 1st, the office of the general 
quarter-master, the archives and the library ; 2d, the office of topo- 
graphy and of engraving ; 3d, the general office. 

Many valuable geodetic and topographic works have been executed by 
this corps, among which we may mention the measure of an arc of 



66 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

pai'allel of latitude, included between the tower of Cordouan near 
Bordeaux, in France, and that of Fiume, in Italy ; which measure had 
been brought in France so far as the Eoanne, and toward Italy so far as 
Ticino, but had been interrupted by the Alps. All the scientific opera- 
tions made for this measure, as well as the operations instituted by the 
same corps, in order to verify the measure both geodetic and astronomi- 
cal of the arc of the meridian, formerly determined by Beccaria, were 
published in Milan, in two volumes in 4to, with diagrams. The corps un- 
dertook also a general primary and secondary triangulation of all the con- 
tinental kingdom so as to form a map, on a scale of a fifty-thousandth, 
divided into ninety-six sheets. This general atlas was afterward reduced 
to a scale of a two hundred and fifty-thousandth, which was published 
some years ago. Another work of great value has also been undertaken 
on the ancient and modern, physical^ political and military conditions 
of Northern Italy, which is divided into five parts, two descriptive, two 
historical, and one graphic. 

School of Artillery in the Arsenal. — Men, who are destined to 
work in the arsenal,receive here practical instruction in their art. The arse- 
nal contains : 1st, a chemical and metallurgical Laboratory, in which 
analysis, &c., are performed ; 2d, a mineralogical collection, containing 
1100 specimens of minerals, and many models of crystalization, besides 
a complete collection of specimens from the territory of Genoa; 3d, a 
collection of Philosophical Apparatus, containing GOO different machines 
and instruments, partly from Puxy and Dumotier of Paris and partly from 
Zest and Brabante of Turin ; 4th, a library containing the best books on 
Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Geology, Geography, &c.; 
5th, a foundry of cannon, which includes the foundry properly so called, 
the atelier of modelers, the Hall of models, the ateliers of trepans and of 
engravers ; 6th, the lithographic establishment ; 7th, the machine shop ; 
8th, a manufacture of all kinds of arras for the army and navy ; 9th, the 
atelier of bombardiers ; 10th, the manufacture of gunpowder, and refinery 
of saltpetre ; 11th, a forge for gun-barrels. 

KoYAL Corps of the Military Engineers. — This is another scientific 
corps of the army, and has three divisions: 1st, the engineers and 
officers ; 2d, the sappers and miners ; 3d, the office of the archives, — all 
under the command of a Major- General. It is their duty to prepare the 
designs for new military buildings, and to keep in order the existing 
establishments. 

Royal Armory, (Armeria Reale.) — Among the establishments in rela- 
tion with military instruction we mention the Royal Armory, which is 
an extensive collection of ancient and modern arms, and especially of 
those used in the middle ages. It is a treasure of history, of military 
science and of the mechanical fine arts, enriched with a great quantity of 
specimens remarkable both for their structure and ornaments, embellished 
with historical designs and sculptures, reliefs and bas-reliefs, carved and 
gilded. There are arms of all ages, shields, helmets, cuirasses, coats of 
mail, steel waistcoats, iron armlets and greaves, lances, daggers, clubs, 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 57 

bows, swords, and guns of all kinds and ages, highly interesting to mili- 
tary students. There is a rich collection of Indian weapons, gath- 
ered by Vidua in his travels through Central Asia, which was increased 
by the Prince of Carignano, with many implements from the new world. 
The flags which are unfolded in the Armorer are precious monuments, 
which recall the ancient and modern glories of the Sardinian army. 
Here also is a valuable collection of medals and coins, in which is written 
the history of Sardinian kings, of others which are historical monuments 
of the provinces of the kingdom, and finally of coins and medals of Italy, 
from the fall of the Empire to our own times. 

King's Library, {Billioteca del Be.) — This contains thirty thousand 
volumes of the best editions of ancient and modern works on history, 
travels, arts, economy, etc. Among these some are printed on parchment 
and painted in miniature. The selections of military works is complete, 
and the collection of manuscripts rich. We may mention, among these, 
a collection of fifty-three volumes of Atlases containing designs for the 
history of artillery of Europe, by Col. Rouvroy ; all the materials which 
Frederick the Great communicated to Algarotti for the history of the 
seven years' war, with many letters of that king to its author ; the only 
complete copy of the history of the Arabs from their origin to the Cali- 
phat of Moawiyah, by Ebn-Kaldm ; and finally, many codices both in 
parchment and papyrus, Arabic, Persian, &c. There are many let- 
ters of Emmanuel Philibert, of Prince Eugene of Savoy, of Eedi, auto- 
graphs of Napoleon, and of some of his generals. There we find a 
collection of two thousand ancient designs, among which twenty by Lio- 
nardo da Vinci, some by Raphael, Correggio, Titian, etc. The library 
possesses moreover a beautiful collection of Chinese insects, designed and 
painted in miniature on silk paper by Chinese artists, with the Chinese 
names of every insect ; and a collection of many Chinese miniatures, 
birds, flowers, plants, dresses, &c. 

Archives of the State, (Arehivi di Stato.) — They contain treasures 
relative to the history of the country. The great quantity of its papei'S 
are inclosed in beautifully carved cases, classified in fine order, and regis- 
tered in excellent catalogues. To the Archives there is united a library 
for the use of the executive departments, which is enriched by many 
precious manuscripts, many of which on parchment, and especially three 
missals of a remote antiquity, which are considered of great value for 
the excellence of the designs and beauty of the coloring of their minia- 
tures. They belong to the age of Raphael. There are in the library 
many books and editions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 

The Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery was founded in Turin 
some years ago by the most pi'ominent physicians of the country, for 
promoting the progress of medicine, surgery, and relative sciences. It is 
composed of ordinary, honorary, and corresponding members, the first 
of which are obhged to present a paper every year. The Academy meets, 
twice a month, to hear the reading of papers and to discuss theoretical and 
practical subjects. It offers annual prizes for the best works on medical 
5 



58 PUBLIC INSXr.UCTION IN SARDINIA. 

and surgical questions, and publishes a monthly paper and yearly- 
volumes of its acts, which are highly esteemed by all medical societies of 
Europe. Connected with the Academy is an association of mutual aid 
of all the physicians of the country, who, by paying an annual moderate 
fee, have right to a pecuniary allowance in case of their sickness, or of 
other embarrassing circumstances. The Academy and the association are 
in a flourishing state, and in the way to more extensive operations. 

The Royal Albert Academy of FraE Arts was founded in 1824 by 
Charles Felix, reformed and enriched by Charles Albert, who gave his name 
to the institution. Its object is to give free instruction to young men in the 
art of design, and especially in the arts of painting, sculpture, architecture 
and engraving. Its officers are a director and president, a secretary, the 
first painter to the king, ten honorary members, fourteen resident pro- 
fessors, foreign professors, and honorary fellows. The schools are pre- 
paratory and special : the preparatory embraces, 1st, the first and second 
classof drawing ; 2d, the school of anatomy ; 3d, of statuary ; 4th, of nude 
figures ; 5th, of drapery ; 6th, of perspective ; 7th, of history and poetry. 
The special school, in which the pupils enter when they have given satis- 
factory proofs of their suflficient progress in the preparatory school, and 
have chosen the branch of art to which they prefer to devote themselves, 
comprehends 1st, the school of painting; 2d, of architecture; 3d, of 
sculpture ; 4th, of engraving ; 5th, of ornament. 

Examinations and rewards promote the love and the progress of the arts. 
The exhibitions for the rewards of the first class, which consist of golden 
medals and a sum of money, take place every three years, and the 
works of all artists are admitted. The rewards of the second class con- 
sist of silver medals, with a smaller sum, and are bestowed every six 
months on the pupil, who has exhibited the most meritorious work in that 
time. Besides, the government grants three pensions to the three best 
pupils of the Academy, to enable them to reside and to study in Rome. 
These pensions are granted to a pupil of each of the three arts of painting, 
sculpture and architecture. For the two former the examination is 
open every three years, for the latter every six j'-ears. The pupils so 
privileged are obliged to send a work of their own to the Academy, every 
year. The Royal Gallery of Paintings, containing many master- 
pieces of all the principal schools, affords to the pupils a continu- 
ous means of improvement. This gallery is remarkable especially for 
the excellent collection of paintings by Piedmontese artists of great fame, 
as Oaravoglia, Macrino, Giovenone, Molineri, Caccia, Olivieri and Gauden- 
zio Ferrari, all of whom stand side by side with Raphael, Guido Reni, 
Guercino, Gentileschi, Carlo Dolce, Crcspi and Cigagni. It possesses 
also originals by Titian, Palma, a Magdalene by Paul Veronese, and 
many works of Jacopo da Bassano and of Canaletto. The foreign schools 
are represented by Mignard and Poussin of France, by Holbein and Al- 
bert Durer of Germany, by Velasquez and Murillo of Spain, by Paul Potter 
and Teniers, Wouvermans and Van Dyke of Holland and Flanders. The 
Academy, besides an excellent collection of drawings and models, 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 59 

possesses of its own a fine gallery of paintings, among which are twenty- 
four by Gaudenzio Ferrari. 

Philharmonic Acadejiy of Turin. — This conservatorium, or school of 
music, was founded in 1815 by a few young men with a modest beginning, 
but was soon after increased and enriched by some wealthy benefactors 
and by the generosity of the kings. Its object is to promote the study 
of music by every means, especially by concerts and evening parties, and 
by the free teaching of music. Its members are divided into two classes, 
ordinary and aggregate fellows. The ordinary can not be more than 
one hundred and fifty in number, and fill their vacancies by ballot. 
They pay an entrance and an annual fee. The aggregate fellows are 
either honorary or resident. The free school of singing is directed by 
the Academy by the medium of a director and professors. The coui'se 
occupies six years, and is divided into as many classes. Monthly, quar- 
terly and annual examinations afford the pupils frequent occasions of 
showing their improvement, and of gaining honorary medals. Over the 
school for girls presides a committee of ladies, who visit it daily, and edu- 
cate those who are from the lower classes in the politeness and elegance 
of manners, which are so necessary to candidates for the stage. To 
diffuse a taste for music, the Academy not only gives free instruction, 
but often opens its splendid halls for concerts and evening parties. 

Philodramatic Academy. — It was founded in 1828, and proposes not 
only to prepare good actors for the stage, but more to educate the young 
of both sexes in the art of delivering public speeches, and of reading. Its 
ordinary members are thirty-five in number, while the number of 
honorary members is undetermined. 

Caccia's College. — A beneficent man, by the name of Caccia, created this 
college and endowed it with a large property. It was in Pavia until 
1820, and was transferred in that year to Turin. It supports four pupils, 
who learn the principles of design at the Royal Academy of the Fine 
Arts. It also supports in Rome three pupils ; two for sculpture, one for 
painting, and another in Milan, in engraving. It, moreover, gives free 
board and lodging to sixteen young men from the province of Novara, 
during the whole of their studies at the university. 

Royal Committees for the Progress of Sciences, Letters and Arts. — 
Charles Albert created in 1832 a committee of antiquities and fine arts, 
and intrusted to it the oflBce of suggesting means of the discovery and 
preservation of all objects of antiquity and fine arts. Another committee, 
created in 1833, is called the Royal Deputation for researches into the 
history of the country. It is its duty to publish a collection of inedited 
or rare works in connection with the history of the country, and a diplo- 
matic code of the kingdom. This committee has, since the time of its 
institution, published nine huge and most valuable volumes, folio^ with the 
title of HistoricR patriae monumenta edita jussu Regis Garoli Alberti. 
The work is to be continued. 

A third committee of statistics, created in 1836, is intrusted with the 
collection and publication of all statistics of the kingdom, with the aid of 



QQ PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

sub-committees instituted in every city. This committee has ah-eady 
pubhshed many volumes on the subject, and next year will undertake a 
general new census of the country. 

The Royal Academy of Agriculture of Turin promotes the interests 
and the development of this important source of public welfare, discusses 
in its regular meetings subjects relating to it, and receives papers and 
specimens of agricultural productions and implements. It opens yearly 
two public exhibitions, one of flowers, fruits, and every kind of horticul- 
tural productions, the other of agricultural implements, and gives hono- 
rary prizes for the best specimens. The Academy pubhshes every year 
its transactions, which contain valuable papers, and really substantially 
form the contemporaneous history of Sardinian agricultvire. The atten- 
tion of the Academy is particularly directed to the cultivation of the vine 
and the mulberry tree, and to the best method of making wines and of 
raising silk-worms, which constitute two of the most important staples 
of the agricultural industry of the country. 

The Agricultural Association has for its object the promotion of ag- 
riculture and arts connected with it. The Association holds meetings, 
where appropriate subjects are publicly discussed, and publishes agi'icul- 
tural tracts in order to diffuse among the people a knowledge of the 
soundest principles, and the best systems and implements of cultivation, 
and gives prizes for the best specimens of agricultural productions and 
instruments. It possesses a good museum and an experimental garden, 
and publishes a monthly agricultural review and yearly volumes of its 
annals. 

The Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce of Turin is composed of 
fifteen members, of whom four must be landed proprietors, two bankers, 
two silk manufacturers, two in other manufacturing business and five 
merchants. Its duty is to watch over the progress of agriculture, in- 
dustry and commerce, to examine the obstacles which may prevent their 
development, and to suggest remedies. The Chamber supports free 
public courses of Commercial Jurisprudence and Political Economy, 
which arc attended by merchants, clerks, &c. To the Chamber is at- 
tached the I'echnical Institute, of which we have elsewhere spoken. It 
presides over the national exhibitions of industry, which take place in Turin 
every three years. The constitution and objects of the Chambers of 
Commerce and Agriculture of Genoa, Chambery and Nice are similar 
to those of the Chamber of Turin. 

The following institutions have more or less relation to those, of which 
we have already given an account : 

The Royal AcADEjn.' of Sciences of Savoy, in Chambery. 

The Academy of Sciences and Arts of Alexandria. 

The Economical Association of Chiavari. 

The Acadejiy of Philosophy of Genoa. 

The Association for the Progress of Education, established in Turin, 
and ramified throughout the kingdom. 

The AcADEun- of Painting, Architecture, Ornament and Engraving 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 61 

of Genoa, to which courses of lectures on the fine arts are attached. It 
supports also two pupils in Eome and in Florence, for instruction in paint- 
ing and sculpture. 

The Philharmonic Association of Genoa. 

The Philharmonic Dramatic Literary Academy of Cuneo. 

The Philharmonic Poetic Literary Academy of Alba. 

The Royal Association of Agriculture and Economy of Oagliari. 

The Association of Workmen and Mechanics for their mutual in- 
stuction and aid, which is to be found in almost every city. 

The Eoyal Council of the Adjiinistration of Mines, and the Royal 
Corps of Engineers connected with that Council. 

The Royal Corps of Civil Engineers for the Superintendence of 
Waters and Roads. 

The Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts of Turin. 

The Association for the Promotion of Gunnery and Small-arm Prac- 
tice of Turin, intended especially for the instruction of the National Guard. 

VIL The Press. — Though, before 1848, a civil and ecclesiastical censor- 
ship exerted a most severe and absurd control over all kinds of publications, 
and no political newspaper was allowed in the country, yet even at that 
time many valuable works were issued from the Piedmontese press, both 
scientific and literary, which have given to the typographical mechanics 
of Sardinia a high reputation through all Italy. The constitution of 
1848, having insured to the country absolute freedom of the press, made 
it a powerful instrument of education, as well as of a general control over 
all acts of the administration. Indeed, the freedom of the press is one 
of the most important of the real benefits derived to the country from the 
constitution. All citizens have the right to publish whatever they may 
choose on whatever subject, and the government has no power of control 
over any publication ; writers, as well as publishers, being only responsi- 
ble before the courts of justice, which have to pronounce their sentences 
after the verdict of a jury, in the causes concerning their offenses against 
the laws of the country. Indeed, editors of political papers can even 
throw this responsibility on any person, whom they choose to appoint as 
a responsible trustee of their paper. The freedom of the press is so un- 
limited, that papers are to be found which not only stand in strong and 
systematic opposition to the administration, but which propose, as their 
object, the propagation of the most radical doctrines against the estab- 
lished government ; some proposing to return to an absolute monarchy 
under the guardianship of the church, and others to supersede the present 
constitution by establishing republican institutions in the country. We 
must say, however, that these papers do not receive great encouragement 
from the people, who, being of a nature especially practical and positive, 
have no taste for poUtical theories beyond all possibility of realization in 
the present condition of Europe, and much less for the anachronism of 
the middle ages, which ignorant or interested parties would substitute 
for the institutions born of present civilization. The following are the 
principal daily papers published in Turin : 



62 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

The Gazzetta Piedmontese is tlie official paper of the government, val- 
uable for its publication of all the documents relative to the administration, 
and of the full debates of the Parliament. 

The Opinione, a paper representing the majority of the House of Dep- 
uties, and supporting the politics of the administration. It supports also, 
with great skill and strength, the cmancii)ation of Italy from the dominion 
of Austria, and its correspondences from Lombardy and Venice give the 
most reliable accounts of those provinces. Among its contributors we 
mention G. Dina, a learned and talented young man, who has the main 
direction of the paper. 

The Diritto is the exponent of the most advanced and liberal party of 
Sardinia ; it expresses the liberal opposition of the Lower House, and 
while accepting and supporting the present monarchical representative 
government, struggles for a broader interpretation and more liberal con- 
struction of the political constitution. Independent of the government, 
to which it is in a certain sense opposed, it pleads with dignity and power 
the cause of freedom and nationality. The Diritto is directed by a few 
of the members of the liberal party of the House, among whom we may 
instance the most important and active, L. Valerio, whose life has been 
long since devoted to the moral progress of the country, and engaged by 
every means in promoting the independence of Italy. Few men in Sar- 
dinia have such claims, as M. Valerio, to the esteem and affection of his 
countrymen. 

TuE Unione, without being connected with any political party, is the 
organ of the general feeling of the country on the subject of the emanci- 
pation of Italy from Austria, as well as from Papal dominion. Bianchi 
Giovini, an able and learned politician, who may indeed be considered as 
the best qualified writer on ecclesiastical matters relative to civil power, 
edits the Unione; which holds a high standing among other papers for 
its sound and positive doctrines, and for its calm and scientific handling 
of its subjects. Substantially, freedom and independence are the principles 
of which the Unione is the faithful exponent. 

The Gazzetta del Popolo, the smallest and the cheapest of all the 
newspapers, exerts the greatest and most extensive influence on the less 
educated classes of people, for which it is particularly published. Its 
objects, which do not differ substantially from those of the Diritto 
and Unione, are pursued with remarkable shrewdness and power. 
The Gazzetta, enjoying a larger circulation than any other paper in 
the country, does good service to the cause of civilization, in its endeav- 
ors to excite in the masses the feeling of their dignity and the necessity 
of their emancipation from the grasp of superstition, as well as the neces- 
• sity of insuring independence of their country. Govean, Borella and 
Bottero, the bold and able editors of the Gazzetta, may be called true 
missionaries of freedom in Sardinia, and of national independence 
throughout Italy. 

Besides these, there are published in Turin many other daily papers, 
which are more or less conducted in the same spirit as the above ; such 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. g3 

are the Indipendente, the Espero, the Staffetta and the Fischietto, 
which very successfully maintains a humorous character, and for its wit 
as well as for its caricatures, may compare with Punch and Gharivari. 
The Aemonia supports the interests of the church, and it is natural 
enough, that it longs for the restoration of the influence of the clergy on 
the government, as the only ark for the safety of its party. 

In Genoa there is published an official and daily paper, (Gazzetta di 
Genova,) and besides the Gorriere Mercantile, which represents the 
political party of the government and the interests of that city and prov- 
ince, and the Italia del Popolo, the organ of the Kepublican party, 
which in its way pleads the cause of freedom and independence. In all 
the other principal cities of the Kingdom, there is published at least one 
paper, more or less devoted to the same principles held by the great ma- 
jority of the press of Turin. Such are the Gazzette de Savoie of 
Chambery, the Gazzetta Popolare of Cagliari, the Gazzetta delle 
Alpi of Cuneo, the Tempo of Casale, the Vessillo della Liberta of 
Vercelli, the Pensiero of Oneglia, the Cittadino of Asti, &c. 

Some branches of arts, industry and commerce, scientific and literary 
departments, are represented by papers and reviews ; like the Gazzetta 
DEI Tribunali, the Giornale delle arti e Industrie, the Gazetta medica, 
the Bollettino delle Strade Ferrate, the Pirata, the Rivista militare, 
the Secolo XIX, and above all the Rivista Contemporanea, a monthly 
scientific and literary Review of the highest character not only in Sardinia, 
but in all Italy, and which is supported by contributions of the best writers 
of the country. 

VIII. Educational Press and Scholastic Books. 
The educational movement, which began in Sardinia about fifteen years 
ago, was produced and directed by some pedagogical works of great 
merit, published both in Piedmont, and in other parts of the Peninsula. 
Among the writers who have contributed most to this educational progress 
of Italy, we may mention Rosmini, Lambruschini, Mayer, Thouar, 
Sacchi, Parravicini, Cantu, Aporti, Fontana, Rosi, and Taverna, all of 
whom belonged to other States of Italy, except Rosmini, who lived in 
Sardinia. In Piedmont, however, as early as in 1840, Vincenzo 
Troja, under the direction of the Magistrato della Riforma agli Studj, pre- 
pared a manual for teachers, and a new programme for elementary 
schools, both of which were published under the title of Istruzione ai 
maestri delle scuole elementari. In this manual the principles of pedagogic 
art were laid down, the object of primary schools defined, a new system 
of reading introduced, and above all, instruction graduated according 
to different classes of pupils, and corporeal punishments abolished. Prof. 
Troja prepared afterward two Reading Books, which were approved by 
the Magistrato^ and prescribed for all primary schools. Though imper- 
fect works, these books changed entirely the method of teaching, aroused 
in the minds of teachers a feeling of the necessity of further and deeper 
investigation on didactic method, and brought into the schools the educa- 
tional systems, which had already obtained favor in Germany and 



64 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

Switzerland, through the works of Pestalozzi and Girard. It is just to add, 
that this educational movement was greatly aided by the labors of some 
high minded citizens, who, though entangled at every step by a petty 
censorship, and troubled in their eiforts by a suspicious government, 
strenuously fought on behalf of human civilization, by promoting by 
every means the educational progress of the country. Among these we 
will mention C. Boncompagni, afterward minister of public instruction, 
and more particularly Lorenzo Valerio, above named, who well sup- 
ported that liberal movement in his highly philanthropic paper, Letture 
Popolari. This journal, which was soon after abolished by the govern- 
ment, sprang up more powerful, under the name of Letture difamiglia, 
continuing most efficiently the noble work of its predecessor. 

After the common efforts of the liberal party had been somewhat suc- 
cessful, after public opinion grew so strong in favor of educational reform, 
as to obtain jfi-om the government the establishment of schools for teach- 
ers, and the official acknowledgment of the necessity of that reform, 
works on methodic art, and other educational subjects, appeared from 
every quarter in such number, that it became quite difiicult to select the 
few of real merit from the mass of the indiffei-ent or paltry. In this con- 
dition of things, the government in order to prevent a general confusion 
which would have inevitably succeeded in the schools of the country, and 
to prevent useless expenditures b}^ parents, renewed the former ordinance, 
by which no book should be introduced into the schools, before approved 
by the supreme council of instruction. The prescribed list of the text- 
books for primary and secondary studies is the following : 

Elementary Course. — Sillabario graduato di V. Troja, Primo librodi lettura ; Secondo 
libro di lettura; Catechismo della Diocesi ; Schmid,Racconti della storia sacra ; Gram- 
matica elcmeiitare Italiana di A. P.; Compendio di aritmetica per un fratello delle 
Scuole Cristiane ; Nozioni compendiose di geografia; Metodo e quaderni di Scrit- 
tura di Delpino e Trossi. Course of Grammar — Classics: Epitome Histori£8 sacrae ; 
Epitome historisB Graecas ; Epitome historiae Romanae, seu de viribus illustnbus urbis 
Romas; Cornelii Nepotis opera; Phaedri FabulaE ; Ciceronis Epistolae ad familiares j 
Ciceronis Laeliussive de amicitia ; ^.ova anthologia Lalina, sect, prima; Nuova anto- 
logia Italiana, sez. prima ; Text-books : Compendio del nuovo metodo, oppure della 
grarnmatica Latina ; Uorticelli regole ed osservazioni della lingua Toscana ; Storia sacra 
deir A. e N. Testamento del P. Secco ; Compendio della Storia della R. Casa 
Savojai Nozioni compendiose di geografia; Course of Rhetoric — Classics: Caesaris 
Commentani &c.; Ciceronis Orationes Selectae; Virgilii Georgicon and Aeneidos ; 
Horatii carmina selecta and Ars poetica ; Nova anthologia Latina sect, secunda ; An- 
thologia Grasca ; Tasso Gerusalemme Liberata ; Alfieri Saul ; Casa Galateo ed orazioni ; 
Nuova antologia Italiana, sez secoiida ; Text-books : Grarnmatica Greca di Burnout" — 
Trattato dell' arte poetica — Cellarii Breviarium antiq. Rom. cum appendice Juvencii de 
Diis ; Marta, trattat di Aritemtica. For the lectures on History and Belles-Lettres, 
the prescribed programmes are followed. Course of Philosophy — Classics : Ciceronis 
De Officiis, St. Augustini Soliloquia, Nova Anthologia Latina, (sect, tertia,) Nuova 
Antologia Italiana, (Sezione terza ;) Text-books: Marta, Elementi di Algebra e Ge- 
oraetria : Botto, Elementi di Fisica Sperimentale. For the lectures on Logic, Meta- 
physics, Moral Philosophy, and Natural History, see the programmes. 

We do not venture to say, that Sardinia possesses excellent books for 
its schools, nor that the selections of the C4overnment could not be better. 
On the contrary, we admit that there is a decided lack in this branch of 
literature, especially for elementary schools. There are, however, some 
books which are of a superior character, as Feccia's elementary books, 
and the Elementi di Logica e Metajisica, by Pier Antonio Corte, and 
the Elementi di Etica, by the same writer, which are rightly considered 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. ()5 

as the best text-books of the philosophical course, and as such adopted 
by the best colleges. Philosophy is greatly indebted for its progress in 
Sardinia to Professor Corte, who, in connection with a few others, under- 
took many years ago to reform this study, and succeeded in delivering 
the university of Turin and its colleges from the influence of the sen- 
sualist doctrine, which for a long time had prevailed. Prof. Corte is also 
author of a valuable Latin philosophical Reader : Anthologia ex II. T. 
Cicerone, et L. Annaeo Seneca, cura et studio Petri Antonii Oorte, 
in usum Philoso2yhice Studiosorum concinnata. 

Political papers often treat ably the subject of educational reform, and 
thus many valuable ideas find their way into the public mind. As for 
special educational papers, the monthly Journal of the Association for 
the advancement of Education, 'which, yi&s, iov tusloj years published in 
Turin, contained valuable writings in all branches of pedagogic and didac- 
tic science. But it having some years ago closed its publications, it was 
resumed, under the name of the Institutore, a semi-monthly Review, 
edited for the benefit of teachers by Professor Berti, to whose labors 
the cause of public education is much indebted. Prof D. Berti is one of 
the youngest and ablest members of the Parliament, and many important 
improvements in the educational system, we doubt not, will be achieved 
by his talents and devotion to the country. With him is associated G. A. 
Rayneki, professor of Methodology in the University of Turin, whose 
public lectures on pedagogy are of high standing and of great value to 
the students of this course. Prof Rayneri is the author of an excellent 
book, Principii delta Metodica. 

XL Antonio Rosjiini considered as the Philosopher of Pedagogy, and 
AS AN Educator. — All the most important works or writings, all the most 
eflfectual lectures which have been published or delivered in Italy, and es- 
pecially in Piedmont, during the last twelve years, whether on methodic 
science or on didactic art, either derived their foundations or their 
doctrines from the scientific principles, which were laid down in the im- 
mortal works of one of the greatest men of our age, Antonio Rosmini. It 
may be allowed to the writer of this paper to introduce to the acquaint- 
ance of American readers the venerated name of this great philosopher, 
a name which recalls to his mind the sweetest recollections of his life, and 
excites in his heart the deepest grief for his untimely death, which de- 
prived Italy of one of her noblest sons, and science of one of its most 
gifted devotees. Devoted as a priest, refined as a scholar, sound as a 
statesman, sublime as a thinker, humble as a Christian, and bold as a 
philosopher, Rosmini united in himself in a high degree many qualities, 
any of which would be sufiBcient to convey to posterity the name of its 
possessor. The acuteness and breadth of his mind were only equaled 
by the extent of his learning, and by the refinement of his taste. With 
the synthetic power of Dante and with the analytical faculties of Thomas 
Aquinas, his mind embraced all human knowledge in its unity and uni- 
versality, with the view of erecting a philosophical Encyclopaedia, which 
wa« to be derived from one principle and divided into different branches, 



66 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

according to their logical order. Of this Encyclopa'dia he had published 
some twenty volumes, in which science is founded on a new and immova- 
ble basis, and developed with such a deep, broad, and original survey, that 
few philosophers, either in ancient or modern times, can be compared to 
him in this respect In his religious feelings, though a sincere believer and 
enlightened apostle of the Catholic church, in which he was born and edu- 
cated, yet he did not approve, nay openly condemned the excesses of the 
clergy, and whatever abuses he might have found in the church. Hence 
the severe trials to which he was submitted under the influence of 
extreme parties of both sides. But the strictness of Kosmini's life and 
the holy charity with which he was endowed secured him the blessedness, 
which arises from the contemplation of ti'uth, and the practice of benev- 
olence. Tolerant of all opinions, and respectful to all men, though dis- 
senting fi'om him, despising all honors which the world could bestow upon 
him, giving up to charitable objects the large fortune which he had in- 
herited fi'om his family, Rosmini showed himself a true follower of him, 
in the faith of whom he lived and died. He ended his life in 1855, at 
Stresa. on the Lago Maggiore, at the age of fifty-eight years. 

Considering Kosmini in connection with the subject of education, we 
shall not enter into any account of his immortal works on Ideology, Log- 
ic, moral and political Sciences, Anthropology, Psychology, Philosophy 
of Jurisprudence, &c. TVe wiU only mention his book "on Chrutian 
Education,'''' his essay "on Unity of Education,^'' and his Catechism ar- 
ranged in accordance with the ideologixMl order, with a valuable preface 
on general method of teaching. He had commenced a great work on 
Pedagogy, of which there were to be three volumes, when death inter- 
rupted his labors. The first part of this work, which is almost finished, 
is, "C>« the fundamental principle of Methodology, and on some of its 
applications to Human Education." The philosopher establishes here a 
principle, which he expresses in the following formula: "Those objects 
must be first presented to human mind, which belong to the first order 
of intellectual acts : then the objects of the second order, then those of 
the third, and so on successively, so that you shall never lead the child 
to an act of the second order, before he is master of those of the first, 
and so on in regard to the acts of the third, and other superior degrees." 
This principle is derived fi-om the doctrines of Rosmini on Ideology and Log- 
ic, and is founded on the very nature of the human mind, which devel- 
ops itself gradually, so that a law of gradation constitutes the principle 
of methodic and didactic art. This gradation depends on the gradation 
of mental acts and objects, viz.: of ideas, which are presented to the 
mind, and which are natui'ally classified according to a necessary and 
unfailing order. 

Then applying this principle to the education of children, Rosmini un- 
dertook to classify and to analyze their intellectual acts, showing the 
method of training them in each order of these acts, as well as of their 
faculties and objects. In this view he distinguished many ages of child- 
hood, of which he follows the gradual development and examines the 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. Qfj 

diiferent laws, which ought to preside over their education. "We will not 
attempt any analysis of this work, which, though unfinished, will be a 
great addition to pedagogical science, whenever it shall be published. 
We may add, however, that Rosmini, though he could not perfect his 
greatest work on Pedagogy, yet he gave a decided impulse to educational 
researches by his psychologic and anthropologic discoveries, in which the 
human faculties were more sagaciously than ever before described in their 
nature and origin, their oflBces declared, their acts defined, their natural 
order pointed out, the laws of their development fixed, their stimuli clas- 
sified, and the conditions of their working established. Thus Rosmini 
revealed to educators the organization and the structure of the subject, 
the faculties of which they are called to develop in their natural order 
and harmony, and, by his ideologic theories, cast a new light on the nature 
of truth, beauty and virtue, which constitute the objects at which all 
education must aim. 

But Rosmini rendered great service to the cause of education, not only 
as the philosopher of pedagogy, but yet more as one of the most effectual 
educators of the country. With this object he founded and supported 
by his own means an institution of clergymen and laymen, {The Charity 
Association^ who are bound to devote themselves to all kinds of charita- 
ble works, and, above all, to the education of youth. Thus he was able 
to open many elementary schools, asylums, evening and Sunday 
schools, not only in Piedmont, but in Switzerland and in England, 
which were managed by teachers under his direction and control, — 
all of which he was able to see flourishing at the time of his 
death. To provide his schools with good teachers, he founded 
in his institution normal colleges, with the object of giving a 
thorough instruction in method to those, who intended to devote them- 
selves to elementary schools. The students of these colleges are divided 
into two classes, in one of which teachers of common schools are prepared, 
in the other professors of method are trained. The elementary schools, 
within a certain limit, depend on a central college, and their teachers are 
obliged to repair to it during their vacations, in order to confer with their 
companions on the management and improvements relating to their 
schools. To each normal college is annexed a boarding establishment for 
the pupils of the elementary school, in which the students of the college 
learn the practice of didactic art. 

He showed a similar interest in the education of girls, which he be- 
lieved of no less importance than that of boys. With the object of pro- 
moting it, he founded also an institution of young ladies, whom he called 
Sisters of Providence, whom he educated in the art of teaching and 
appointed to elementary schools for girls, and to the many infant asylums 
intrusted to his care in Piedmont, in Switzerland and England. 

No man indeed in Italy has done so much for the progress of education, 
as well as of philosophical sciences, as Rosmini. His doctrines may be dis- 
cussed and disputed, but his life commands the admiration of all, who 
feel an interest in the cause of human civilization. He felt that the hfe of 



gg PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

thought, which was so active within him, was not a perfect Ufe ; thence 
he endeavored to unite in himself the highest contemplation to the most 
extensive action, and this he directed to the education of clergymen, 
whom he tried to bring to that spirituality of religion, which too often 
is lost in the formalities of their profession, and to the education of 
children, in whom he was able to read more simply and purely the 
history of human nature. 

To enable our readers to avail themselves of the philosophical researches 
of Rosmini, we add a catalogue of his principal works, which contain 
treasures of philosophical truth and analytical observations, and present 
one of the best expositions of the principles of pedagogic and didactic 
sciences. 

LIST OF THE WORKS OF ANTONIO ROSMINI. 

1. Introduction to Philosophy, 1 vol. 

2. A New Essay on the Origin of Ideas, 3 vols. 

3. The Restoration of Philosophy in Italy, 1 vol. 

4. Logic, 1 vol. 

5. Theodicy, 1 vol. 

6. Psychology, 2 vols. 

7. Principles of Moral Science. A Comparative History of Moral 

Systems, 1 vol. 

8. Anthropology in relation to Moral Science, 1 vol. 

9. A Treatise on Moral Conscience, 1 vol. 

10. Philosophy of Natural Right, 2 vols. 

11. Philosophy of Politics, 1 vol. Containing, 1st. A work on the principal 

causes nf the preservation and ruin of Human Societies. 2d. A work on Society 
and its Objects. 
12 Miscellanea, 6 vols. 

INEDITED WORKS. 

1. Theosophy. Containing Ontology, Cosmology and Theology, 3 vols. 

2. Pedagogy, 1 vol. 

3. Methodology, 2 vols. 

4. Philosophy of Literature, 1 vol. 

5. Philosophy of Politics, 2 vols. 

6. Supernatural Anthropology, 4 vols. 

7. A Philosophical Commentary on the Gospel of St. John. 



public instruction in sardinia. 69 

An Act organizing the Administration of Public Instruction and its 
Authorities, passed in February, 1857. 

Chapter I. — General Provisions. 

1. Instruction is either public or private. The minister of public instruction directs 
the former, and promotes its progress ; while he watches over the latter in its rela- 
tions to morals, hygiene, political institutions, and public order. 

2. Public instruction is divided into three branches ; elementary, secondary, and 
sujierior. 

3. The existing laws, determining the characteristics of public and private schools, 
shall be still enforced. (1.) 

4. The public institutions and schools of learning and education, (with the exception 
of military, as well as nautical institutions and schools, which depend on the minister 
of war,) and all the authorities, to whom is intrusted the direction and inspection of the 
same, according to the enactments of the present bill, shall depend on the ministry of 
public instruction. 

5. In public schools intrusted to religious corporations, legally admitted into the 
state, the appointments of directors, professors, and teachers, either male or female, 
shall be made by the authorities of the state, on the nomination of the same corporations. 
But the candidates must prove themselves competent to occupy the places for which 
they will be proposed ; therefore they shall pass the examinations, and conform them- 
selves to the other rules and duties prescribed by the by-laws. 

6. It shall belong exclusively to the authorities of public instruction to enforce the 
discipline of public schools, to collate the academic degrees, to install collegiate doctors 
of the faculties, and directors, professors and teachers in the schools, which depend 
upon the minister of public instruction. (2.) 

7. The special acts relative to superior, secondary and elementary instruction, shall 
determine the public regulations for private schools, and the rules according to which 
the government shall supervise them. The same law shall contain provisions, accord- 
ing to which, provincial and municipal corporations shall have an effective share in the 
direction of their own schools and institutions. Meanwhile, citizens, who shall have 
fulfilled all conditions enacted by law, in order to be eligible to the ofHce of professors 
or teachers in the public institutions of secondary and elementary instruction, shall 
be allowed henceforth to open and conduct private institutions of the branch and 
degree for which they have obtained their certificate. 

8. Till said special acts shall be enacted, all private schools and institutions of 
learning and education, either for boys or girls, directed either by laymen or clergy- 
men, shall conform themselves to existing laws. The minister of public instruction 
shall continue to supervise them by means of his officers ; and, should the directors of 
those institutions refuse to conform, or, in fact, should not conform themselves to said 
laws, the minister shall have the power of closing them by a special decree, after 
having obtained the consent of the Supreme Council, and heard the defendant director. 
In urgent cases, after having heard the Council, he shall have the power of suspending, 
by his own authority, the director from his ofRce, and also of closing the school or 
institution, till a definite provision shall be made as above. 

9. The courses followed in seminaries, or in ecclesiastical or religious col- 
leges, of whatever denomination, not exclusively for ecclesiastical education, shall be 
considered invalid for admission to courses, examinations, and academic degrees of 
public schools, unless they conform themselves to the by-laws enacted for public 
schools. In every case, these establishments shall always be submitted to the super- 
vision of the government. (3.) 

10. Religious instruction and education in public institutions and schools shall be 
founded on the Catholic religion. Special acts and by-laws shall determine the rules 
to be followed in the religious training of Catholic pupils. The religious training and 
instruction of dissenting pupils shall be left to their parents. (4.) 

Chapter II. — A. Authorities, which preside over Public Irvstriwtion. 

11. Under the presidency of the minister, a Supreme Council of public instruction is 
instituted ; a legal counselor, a general inspector of secondary schools, a general in- 
spector of elementary and norma! schools, and two more inspectors of secondary 
schools, of whom one for scientific, the other for literary branches, are attached to the 
ministry. The minister shall provide the technical schools with a special inspection. 
In the principal provincial cities, there shall reside a provincial scholastic deputation, 
a royal scholastic superintendent, (Regio Provedilore agli sitcdi,) and a provincial in- 
spector of elementary schools. Every district of the province, {mandamento,) or several 
districts together, shall have a district superintendent, {Provediture mandamentale.) (5.) 

B. Supreme Council of Public Instruction. 

12. The Supreme Council is composed of fifteen members, ten ordinary and five extra- 
ordinary. The former shall be appointed by the King, and two of these, at least, shall 
be elected from amon"- nersons not belonging to public instruction. The last shall also 



70 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

be appointed by the King, and selected from five lists of three candidates, which shall 
be presented by each of the five faculties of the university of Turin. The ordinary 
members only shall receive a salary. (6.) 

13. A filth of I he members shall be renewed every year, so that two of the ordinaries 
and one of the extraordinaries shall leave annually. In the first four years after the 
first election, it shall be decided by lot which members shall vacate the office ; after- 
ward, the three members wlio liave been longest in the office shall annually leave their 
place. These may be appointed again. 

14. The vice-president is annually elected by tlie King from among the members ; 
for the validity of decisions a quorum of eight members is required. 

15. Whenever the minister or the Council shall order it, the counselor and the gen- 
eral inspectors shall jom its meetings, but shall have no power of voting ; the presi- 
dents of the faculties may also be called to the meetings, and they shall have the power 
of voting on questions relative to the courses and programmes of their own faculty. 

16. Both the minister and the Council have power to call to the meetings whomever 
they may think convenient to hear in any particular discussion. These persons, 
however, shall have no power of voting. 

17. The Council, on the request of the minister, shall compose and examine the bills, 
decrees and by-laws concerning instruction, and shall give its opinion on every other 
subject relative to teaching and scholastic administration. 

18. It shall examine and propose to the minister for his approbation text-books, 
treatises, and programmes. 

19. It shall examine the applications, and their merits for the vacant chairs of all the 
universities of the kingdom. 

20. It shall give its opinion, a, on doubts as to the right interpretation and application 
of laws relative to public instruction; b, on contests between the different scholastic 
authorities ; c, on by-laws relative to examinations, the establishment of new colleges 
and boarding scholastic establishments, and on whatever relates to general scholas- 
tic administration, and to distribution of the subjects among the different chairs and 
branches of instruction. 

21. It shall give its opinion on neglects and offenses, of which Directors and Pro- 
fessors of secondary and normal schools, after three years of their service, may be ac- 
cused, whenever such offenses may deserve a degradation or suspension for more than 
three months. The defendants have always right to be heard, either orally or in 
writing, as they may choose. (7.) 

22. The Council has always power to propose to the minister those provisions which 
it may believe useful to the progress of instruction. 

23. The Council shall judge those Professors of the universities, and Collegiate 
Doctors, who may be accused of neglect or offense, whenever this offense can be fol- 
lowed by degradation or suspension; the defendant shall always be heard, as above. 
A special act shall determine neglects and offenses, which shall be followed by those 
punishments, and also their effects. 

24. In urgent cases, the minister shall have the power of suspending, by his own 
authority, Professors of the universities, till the definite judgment shall be given by the 
Council. 

25. The Council shall judge, in causes of appeal, relative to expulsion or temporary 
exclusion from the courses, inflicted by subordinate authorities on students of the uni- 
versities, and of secondary and normal schools. 

26. Every five years the Council shall present to the minister a general report on the 
condition of all branches of instruction, which shall be published, with the observa- 
tions and propositions of the Council. In view of this object, the annual reports of 
the Inspectors, of the authorities which preside over the universities, of the Provincial 
Deputations, of the Superintendents and Directors, shall be communicated to the 
Council. 

C. Counselor. 

27. The Counselor receives his appointment from the King. 

28. He shall give his legal advice on applications made by students for exceptional 
admission to courses and examinations, for exemptions from examinations, and from 
the payment of their fees, and generally on all questions about interpretation and appli- 
cation of laws and rules. 

29. Whenever especially charged by the minister, he shall report to the Council the 
neglects and offenses, for which Professors of the universities, or Collegiate Doctors, 
may be suspended or degraded. He shall join the meetings of the Council, whenever 
defendants may plead before it. 

30. He shall be heard by the Council in the causes brought before it by students con- 
demned to expulsion or temporary exclusion from schools. 

31. He shall refer to the minister the offenses committed against the laws and disci- 
pline of the universities. 

D. General Inspectors. 

32. The General Inspectors receive their appointment from the King. 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. Yl 

33. They shall watch over the proceedings of public instruction, eacli in connection 
with the branch intrusted to him, in the name and under the orders of the minister. 
They shall give to the Royal Superintendents such directions, as they may believe use- 
ful, according to law. 

34. They shall propose to the minister the committees of examination, advancement 
and appointments of teachers, honors to be bestowed upon them, and punishments which 
they may deserve. 

35. Whenever especially charged by the minister, they shall bring before the Council 
the accusations against directors and professors of secondary and normal schools, when 
they are of such a nature as to render defendants liable to degradation or suspension 
for more than two months. 

3(5. Each of them, personally or by means of their subordinate inspectors, shall pro- 
vide for the department in charge of each of them, and to the inspection of all schools 
and institutions, either public or private. 

37. The General Inspectors, availing themselves of the annual reports of their sub- 
ordinate officers shall annually report on the conditions of the branch of instruction 
placed under their care. They also shall collect materials for annual statistical tables 
of instruction, which shall be published within the first si.K months following the year 
to which they refer. 

E. Provincial Scholastic Deputations. 

38. The Provincial Scholastic Deputation consists of the Royal Civil Superintend- 
ent of the Province, who presides over it; of the Royal Scholastic Superintendent, 
who is Vice-President; of three Deputies from the Council of the Provincial Civil 
Administration, elected by the Council itself, either from among its members or from 
persons of scientific and literary culture ; a Deputy from the Municijjal Council of the 
city ; the Provincial Inspector of Elementary Schools ; the Director of Secondary 
Instruction in the Provincial College ; the Professor of Religion ; and a Professor of 
the Normal School, (8,) or a teacher of Elementary Schools, who shall be annually ap- 
pointed by the minister. The members of the Deputation shall not receive any salary. 

39. The Scholastic Deputation shall meet every month, on the day determined by its 
President or Vice-President ; and whenever these officers shall require. 

40. It shall enforce the laws and rules relative to the secondary, elementary and 
normal schools of the Province. 

41. It shall order extraordinary inspections on the institutions of the Province, for 
which it shall delegate one or more of its members, whenever occasion shall require. 
It shall decide on necessary provisions which are not beyond its power, and it shall refer 
to the minister, whenever questions arise beyond its jurisdiction. In urgent cases, it 
shall have the power of taking necessary measures, even of ordering the closing of 
institutions ; but it shall refer immediately to the minister. 

42. It shall approve the appointments of elementary teachers made by Municipal 
Councils of the Province. It shall suggest to the same Councils increase of salaries, 
the opening of new schools, the purchase of apparatus, and whatever can improve the 
condition of schools and of their teachers. It shall also suggest to the Provincial Civil 
Superintendent the expenses which should be imposed upon the Municipal Corpora- 
tions, whenever it shall deem it necessary. 

43. It shall decide disputes between municipal authorities and teachers, relative to 
the fulfillment of scholastic duties. 

44. It shall decide on admission to the courses and examinations of secondary, ele- 
mentary and normal schools, should any doubt arise on the interpretation of by-laws. 

45. Parties alluded to in the preceding two paragraphs shall always have an appeal to 
the minister. 

46. The Deputation shall institute the necessary proceedings upon offenses of which 
elementary teachers may be accused ; and, after having heard the defendants, it shall 
refer to the minister, suggesting suitable action. 

47. It shall decide on the application of teachers and professors for furlough ; it shall 
propose to the minister such advancements, pecuniary allowances, and honors which 
they may deserve. 

48. It shall refer to the minister accusations against Provincial Inspectors, and pro- 
fessors of secondary and normal schools, whenever they may be liable to suspension 
or degradation. 

49. It shall examine materials for statistics of private and public instruction in the 
Province, and shall annually send them, with its comments, to the minister. 

P. Royal Scholastic Superintendents of Provinces. 

50. These are appointed by the King. 

51. They shall have supervision of the official conduct of those who preside over the 
instruction or direction of scholastic establishments in their provinces. They shall 
execute the orders and decisions of the Provincial Deputation. They shall correspond 



72 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

directly with the minister, shall watch over all the public and private schools, enforce 
the laws and rules, and suggest, both to the Deputation and to the minister, the neces- 
sary provisions. 

52. At least once a year, they shall visit all the secondary schools of their province, 
ana shall provide, personally or by some members of the Deputation, that all other 
institutions be visited. 

53. It shall be their duty to enforce on the Provincial Inspectors of elementary 
schools their obligations relative to their inspections, and shall give to them and to the 
local superintendents the necessary orders. 

54. Tliey shall grant to public teachers, regularly appointed, their certificate of 
license. 

55. They shall watch over the correct disposition of legacies bequeathed to scholastic 
institutions of the Province; and, in case of any transgression, they shall refer to the 
minister. 

Gr. Local Scliolastic Superiniendenfs. 

56. These are appointed by the minister, on the nomination of the Royal Scholastic 
Superinlendent of the Province. They receive no salary. 

57. Tliey shall watch over the exact enforcement of laws and rules in the schools of 
their district. They shall visit them at least once a year, and whenever it is ordered 
by the Royal Superintendent, to whom they shall report. They shall correspond with 
the Royal Superintendent of the Province, and execute all his orders and directions. 
They shall aid the Provincial Inspector in forming statistical tables of the schools and 
institutions of the district. 

H. Provincial Inspectors of Elementary Scliools. 

58. In every Province there shall be an Inspector of Elementary Schools. He shall 
be appointed by the minister, who may appoint only one for two provinces, whenever 
it shall be required by their Provmcial Councils. 

59. No one can be appointed Inspector, who has not taught at least five years. 

60. Provincial Inspectors shall inspect all the public and private institutions of ele- 
mentary instruction. Their annual visitation shall last not less than seven months in 
the year. 

61. They shall, besides, attend to all extraordinary inspections ordered either by the 
minister, by the Royal Superintendent, or by the Provincial Deputation. 

62. They shall make an annual report of their inspections, which, through the Royal 
Superintendent, shall be presented to the Provincial Deputation for its observations, 
with which it shall be sent to the minister. They shall also present a report of all 
extraordinary inspections to the authority by whose order they were made. 

63. They shall prepare every year tables on the conditions of all the elementary 
schools of the Province, whether for boys or girls, and of all the Infant Asylums, which 
shall be presented to the Provincial Deputation. 

64. The Inspectors may be allowed to fill other offices relative to education. But 
every other employ or profession is stnctly forbidden to them. 

Chapter III. — Special Provisions. 

65. The salaries of the ordinary members of the Supreme Council, of the Counselor, 
of the two General Inspectors, of the two Inspectors of Secondary Schools, and of the 
Royal Scholastic Superintendents, are paid by the State. The salaries are as 
following : 

Vice-President of tlie Supreme Council, 2500 francs. 

Ench of the ordinary members of the Council, 2000 " 

Coun.selor, .' 4000 " 

General Inspector of Secondary Schools, 4000 " 

General Inspector of Elementary a nd Teachers' Schools, 4000 " 

Each of the two Inspectors of Secondary Schools 2200 " 

Each of the Royal Scholastic Superintendents, 600 " 

Rector of the University of Turin, 4000 " 

Vice-Rector, •. 1000 " 

Rector of the University of Genoa, 3000 " 

Vice-Rector, fiOO " 

Ench of the Rectors of the two Universities of the Island of Sardinia,. .2000 " 

Each of the two Vice-Rectors, 300 " 

66. The salary, including the travelling expenses, of the Provincial Inspector shall be 
paid by each Province. It shall be 2400 francs. 

Chapter IV. — Transitory Dispositions. 

By which it provides a temporary administration, till the new organization shall be 
installed; in which interval the greatest part of the old administration shall continue to 
preside over the public instruction of the country. 



public instruction in sardinia. ?3 

Remarks on the Law op 1857. 

(1.) According to the existing laws of Sardinia, public schools are those, which 
are estabhshed or supported by the state, by the provinces, townships, rehgious 
institutions or associations, or by private legacies intrusted to public adminis- 
trators. Those, which are established or supported by private individuals, under 
a license granted by the Government, are called private schools. For the laws re- 
specting private schools, see ante Tpsiges 14 and 15. Though the Infant Asylums 
might be in some respects classified under the head of private schools, yet they 
are more properly considered as pubUc institutions, on account of the official 
intervention, both of the government and of the municipalities, in their manage- 
ment and control. These institutions are founded, generally speaking, by private 
subscriptions and controlled by a central board of eight or nine members, among 
whom we find always the mayor, the judge, and the pastor of the town or 
township. The immediate direction of the Asylums is however intrusted to a 
permanent committee of ladies, some of whom visit the school every day, aiding 
the teachers in their duties, directing the institution according to its object, and 
promoting, by an assiduous care, its general progress and welfare. Thus the 
Asylums have essentially a domestic character, founded on maternal feeling, 
which directs the movement of the central board. This maternal character at- 
tached to the Infant Asylums has proved the most effectual characteristic of the 
direction, to which these institutions are intrusted. 

(2.) This clause estabUshes the exclusive authority of the State in the direc- 
tion of public instruction, denying any right or authority of the church in the 
control or management of the scholastic institutions of the country. Before 
1848, the church had the control of all the public instruction, and even the 
academic degrees were bestowed by its authority, the archbishops being always 
the chancellors of the universities of the State. Since that time, that authority 
has been entirely restoi'ed to the state, and confirmed by tins clause of the new 
bill. 

(3.) For the understanding of the provisions enacted in clauses 1, 8, and 9 
of the chapter respecting private instruction, we submit an account of the 
question on "Freedom of Instruction," which was brought before the 
Parliament at the opening of the general discussion of this bill. Ameri- 
can readers, who live in a country where the widest and most unbound- 
ed freedom in opening all kind of schools is an undisputed right of the 
people, and where no governmental education is established by the State, 
may find it no easy matter to form an idea of the system enforced for centuries 
in a country, where the government is not only the teacher, but the only lawful 
teacher of the people. The laws enacted in Sardinia on tliis subject before the 
Constitution of 1848 were of the most stringent character, forbidding any indi- 
vidual, association or municipality to open a school of any kind whatever, 
except by special license from the government, which, if it granted such hcense, 
prescribed with it the rules on which private estabUshments should be directed, 
and managed, and reserved to itself an absolute right of inspecting and examin- 
ing hcensed institutions, and closing them at pleasure. It is evident that, in 
this condition, private education could not prosper, and the entire people was 
obhged to depend on the State for its educational and scientific training. 

The constitution granted by Charles Albert, while it insured to the country 
free institutions, freedom of the press and of association, did not recall formally 
the previous legislation relating to this subject ; on the contrary, the former 
6 



'74 PUB!,ir INSTUtUn'ION IN SARDINIA. 

provisions were confirmed by a law of 1848, enacted soon after the granting of the 
constitution. But the question soon arose, whether this state of things was in 
accordance with free government ; whether citizens had not acquired from the 
very nature of tlie constitution itself full power of establishing schools as they 
might desire, and parents an absolute right of educating their children as they might 
choose, independently of any interference of the government, without losing the 
privileges or rather the rights attached to official instruction. There was no 
question, whether a free instruction, supported on their own responsibility by 
individuals or associations, should take the place of the existuig system, neither 
of abolishing anj^ of the official schools, or preventing the government from es- 
tablishing new ones, under their own direction and control. It was only the 
question of planting side by side the two systems, so as to recognize the right 
of every citizen to teach, independently of the government, and to erect schools 
and educational establishments on their own responsibility; to extend the privi- 
leges bestowed on the students of the official establishments to the pupils of 
private schools. Thus presented, the question had in itself its solution. Free 
instruction, as well as a free press and free association, is a logical consequence 
of a free government, and indeed the principle itself was not met by any oppo- 
sition in Sardinia. 

Yet particular conditions of the country suggested a prudent course in 
this matter, and did not allow an immediate acknowledgment of so uni- 
versal and absolute a right of teaching. It is known, that Sardinia, until 
1848, was under the sway of an absolute monarchical government, controlled and 
directed by the Catholic clergy, wliich was its main supporter and adviser. 
Education especially, though supported by the state, was entirely managed by 
the Catholic party, wliich availed themselves of all means in their hands in order 
to strengthen their own position, and extend their dominion over the whole of 
public and private life. But, as soon as a new era of freedom appeared in Sar- 
dinia, it was natural that its government should cut short the former encroach- 
ments of the clergy, abolish their privileges and usurpations, and free itself 
forever from their influence. Hence the opposition of the ecclesiastical body to 
the poUtical institutions of the state ; hence the danger of allowing this party 
to open schools, and to constitute themselves the teachers of the country. In 
America, where no state religion is to be found, where no religious denomination 
can exert any great influence on political subjects, where freedom has no ene- 
mies, where absolute separation of church and state is a fundamental principle 
of the constitution of the states, no danger can arise from this boundless freedom 
of teaching. It is not so with the old countries, and it is not so with Sardinia. 
There, the Catholic church is the church of the state ; there, the clergy is a 
powerful association, not counterbalanced by any other, with branches scattered 
all over the country, with representatives in every township and village, all 
acting in one spirit, directed by one mind, and exerting a strong influence on 
the great mass of people. The church, moreover, possesses large means of action,- ■ 
about fifteen mOlions of francs a year, — of which a great part could be used in 
supporting schools all over the country, in accordance with its objects. Now, 
whether it is a necessary consequence of the rehgious principles of that sect, or 
a mistake of its clergy, we wiU not decide, but it is a fact that the clergy in 
Sardinia have ever shown a deep and open hatred of civil reforms and of all 
aspirations of nationality, to the cause of which so many noble hearts in the 
country are devoted. Add to this, that the clergy openly acknowledge their 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 75 

unfailing duty to abide by the Pope, an open enemy liimself of free institutions 
in Italy, and a friend of the oppressors of his nation. The danger is evident, 
that the State would encounter, should it recognize in this party an unmodifled 
right of teaching, and of opening educational establishments ; the exercise of 
this right would not fail to act powerfully against the free institutions, and the 
dearest aspirations of the country. This, we believe, is the only danger which 
would arise from a system of boundless freedom of instruction, and the strongest 
reason for delaying a reform, which otherwise all parties would unite to enact. 

The Parliament, in closing the general discussion of the bill, passed a resolu- 
tion, by which the Minister, in presenting to the House bills organizing the 
three branches of education, will be obliged to endorse in some way the princi- 
ple of freedom. We believe, however, that should this principle be enforced in 
future provisions, it wOl be surrounded with so many restrictions as to destroy 
it in its substance. The fact is, that while the government does not enact the 
principle of an absolute separation of the state from the church, while it does 
not carry it through all its legislation and administration, no freedom of instruc- 
tion is possible, for the only reason that it will be monopolized by the clergy. 

But, let the government disclaim any connection Avith the cliurch, let it con- 
sider this as a private association subject to the laws of the state, let it open 
tlie gates of the kingdom to all religious denominations, and put these on an 
equality with the Catholic clergy, let it discontinue all acts which should include 
an acknowledgment of any civU power in the church, let it render stronger, 
more extensive and more liberal the official system, then, and not till then, 
" free instruction " will mean a practicable and useful reform. Before that time, 
we firmly believe, that any provision on this subject will either be so restricted 
as not to deserve the name of reform, or so wide as to be monopolized by a 
party, which openly professes to depend on a foreign sovereign, which claims 
for itself the exclusive possession of truth, so as to deny to any other denomina- 
tions the right of teaching and public worship, which considers the State as a 
subject of the Church, and without any power of reforming those parts of legis- 
lation, which the Church defines to be beyond the power of the State itself. 

Ardently devoted to freedom, we wish to our beloved country an entire system 
of civil reforms, which, if united, will be of mutual aid and support ; but separated, 
will be of short duration, and of little advantage, if not of danger, to the country. 
"We wish an entire freedom of the church, as well as of other religious and civil 
associations; we wish the great bodies, together with their doctrines, whicli may 
enter into the educational contest, placed on an equal footing, and, above all, we 
wish to establish the absolute supremacy of the civil power over all the associations 
existing in the state ; and when these rights shall have been conquered, when 
the State shall have acquired such an independence as to not be prevented from 
carrying its reforms by the opposition of a foreign party, cheerfully we will 
join those of our friends, who are engaged in promoting in Sardinia freedom of 
instruction, and tender to them, if not the feeble support of our words, at least 
the best wishes of our heart. 

(4.) Religious instruction is the necessary complement of a thorough system 
of education. As to this necessity no doubt has been manifested by any party 
of the Parliament, in aU the discussion to which this clause has given occasion. 
The liberal party, however, opposed strongly this provision, not because they 
denied in any way the necessity of such an instruction, but because they con- 
sidered it to be contrary both to the rights and duties of the state. Can a state, 



Y6 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

like Sardinia, which acknowledges the catliohc rehgion as its own, preside over 
the rehgious training of its people ? Does not the catholic church claun for her- 
self) as a fundamental tenet of her doctrine, the desire and exclusive right of 
teaching religion ? Moreover, can a state, like Sardinia, in which all citizens, 
of whatever denomination, enjoy equal rights, provide a portion of its population 
with a free religious instruction, leaving the other portion without any, or to 
provide it from its own resources? The fundamental principle of political 
economy which prevails in the United States, and which has proved so benefi- 
cial to this country, the absolute separation of the state from the church, alone 
affords a satisfactory solution of this problem. There is no country, in which 
religious instruction is more extensive and more efficient, than in the United 
States, though such instruction is not given in the schools supported by the 
community at large. The absolute freedom of conscience and teaching, which 
tins country enjoys, has proved not only a source of social progress and of pub- 
lic welfare, but also the only true means of assuring to the people a sound and 
efficient religious training. The institution of Sunday Schools, supported so lib- 
erally both by the different protestant denominations and the cathohcs, has far 
more promoted the religious education of this country, than it could be by any 
interference of the state. Indeed, after the trial given to this system in this 
country, the freedom of worship and proselytism secured to all denominations, 
should meet the favor not only of those in Sardinia who contend for the triumph 
of human rights, but also of all, who feel an interest in the cause of religion. 
Let the diSerent forms of religious feeling have their full development in the 
oountry, let all sects meet together in a noble rivalry for the propagation of their 
doctrines ; religious instruction will thus flow from its natural source, and soon 
produce that public sentiment, which is so admirable in the United States. 
By the sanction of this system only will the state be able to free itself from the 
embarrassments and difficulties, to which it is too often exposed by its unnatural 
union with the ecclesiastical body. Sardinia will also thus take the lead of 
moral and civil reform in Italy, on wiiich, we sincerely believe, the great cause 
of Italian nationality depends. 

(5.) For the understanding of this organization of the scholastic authorities 
of Sardinia, we submit a few remarks on the political administration of the 
oountry. The kingdom of Sardinia, which extends over more than seventy-five 
thousand square kilometres, embraces under its civil and political government, 
that group of different provinces and territories, which were either confirmed or 
assigned to it by the treaty of Vienna in 1815. The kingdom is divided into 
fourteen departments, {Divisioni,) each of which is subdivided into different 
provinces, which again are divided into many districts, which are called manda- 
menti, each of these containing a determined number of townships, (comuni.) 
The provinces are fifty in number, eleven of which belong to the Island of Sar- 
dinia. A royal civil superintendent, [Intendente,) presides over the administra- 
tion of each province, as the representative of the central government, while 
the interests of its population are represented by a provincial council elected by 
the people at large. The affairs of the cities and townships are administered by 
a municipal council elected by the people, and presided over by a syndic. 
Since 1848 the form of government is of a constitutional monarchy, in many 
respects similar to the government of England. The legislative power is 
exerted by a Senate and a House of Deputies, the former consisting of members 
elected for fife by the King, and chosen from determined classes of high 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. IjlJ 

functionaries in tlie church, in the army, in the scientific establishments, m diplo- 
macy, in the judiciary, or in the civil administration. The House of Deputies 
is composed of two hundred and four members, elected by the people, divided 
into as many electoral districts. But to enjoy the right of electing the members 
of the House, it is necessary to have reached the age of twenty-five years, to 
know how to read and write, and to be a tax-payer in a sum varying in difl'er- 
ent provinces from twenty to forty francs. Professions, however, which suppose 
some degree of intellectual culture, are exempted from this last condition, they 
being admitted to the right of suff'rage without the necessity of paying any tax 
whatever. Every citizen, of the age of thirty years, can be elected member of 
the House, with the exception of a few classes of functionaries. Bills approved 
by both the Houses require the sanction of the King, which can be granted or 
refused. The executive power is intrusted to seven ministers appointed by the 
King in the different departments of the administration. Bquahty of rights 
before the law in all citizens, personal freedom, freedom of the press and of as- 
sociation, inviolability of the residence and of property, independence of the judici- 
ary power from the executive, are among the important benefits secured to the 
people by the constitution. 

Whoever has followed the course of European events for the last nine years, 
can judge if the new pohtical organization of Sardinia has proved a successful 
trial of free institutions. Among difficulties and dangers of every kind, between 
the menaces of its real enemies and the more dangerous influence of its pre- 
tended friends, under the sway of an honest King, the only King in Italy who 
knew how to keep his word to his people, and with a population of a sound 
and practical sense, that Httle country, firom a comparatively insignificant condi- 
tion, rose in a short time to a state of no small political importance, and of a 
great moral power among the other parts of the Peninsula. Sardinia, avoiding 
both anarchy and despotism, has showed to the despotic governments of Europe, 
that pohtical freedom of a country is yet the best condition of its social order 
and of its general welfare. Setting a noble example of a free and strong gov- 
ernment, it became the moral centre of all the states of Italy, which, in their 
general wreck, regard that portion of the country as the beacon of their safety. 
Freeing itself firom the influence of Austria^ at the head of the national party, 
and struggling for the national independence of aU Italy, Sardinia is recognized 
by the great bulk of the Italian people as the true representative and the faith- 
ful exponent of that noble cause. The new and elevated position which that 
country has acquired among the nations of Europe, the important reforms 
which found their way in Sardinia through the new constitution, fi-ee trade and 
its extraordinary results, the wonderful development of its financial and com- 
mercial resources, the extension of its railways and telegraphs, and, above aU, 
the progressive increase of its popular education, are among the benefits which 
Sardinia has derived from its fi^ee institutions. We refer to the following statis- 
tics, which speak conclusively in favor of the new pohtical organization of 
Sardinia, considered in connection with public education, showing its progress 
through the last four years, compared with the year 1850 : 



1850. 


185.3. 


1854. 


1855. 


1856. 


Schools for boys, 4,3.36 


5,138 


5,197 


5,426 


5.872 


Schools for girls, 1,276 


2.20S 


2.4.59 


2.674 


2.837 


Average of boys attending school, 137.399 


174.823 


176,714 


180.145 


187,130 


Average of girls, etc., 40,278 


84,388 


91,651 


100,564 


109.356 


Townships without any schools for boys, 433 


397 


216 


207 


145 


" " " '• '■ girls, 2,372 


1,591 


1,415 


1,282 


1,154 


Amount in francs expended for the ? 

elementary instruction, \ 1,662.694 










2,836,717 


3,&12,145 


3,339,573 


3,557,212 



78 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN SARDINIA. 

(6.) The Supreme Council is so organized by this act as to consist both of 
members appointed by the government, and of others elected by the faculties 
of the University of Turin. It must be considered that such a council from its 
very nature could not properly be the result of the popular vote, which would 
place it under the influence and movements of political parties. Neither educa- 
tion nor science can be properly directed by a Board, which floats on the uncer- 
tain and stormy waves of politics. The results in some of the United States 
amply confirm the necessity of applying to some other source than popular 
election for the constitution of Boards of Education. This necessity appears 
more evident, ifj to this Board, not only popular education but the direction of 
all the branches of scientific teaching should be intrusted. We believe, how- 
ever, that the system adopted by the Sardinian Parliament could be improved 
by extending the privilege of election granted to the faculties of Turin to all the 
teachers of the State. No better source could be assigned to the Supreme 
Council, than to place its constitution in the hands of the teachers at large, so as 
to divide them into three difierent electoral colleges, according to the three dif- 
ferent departments of instruction. Should " free teacliing " become a right of 
the country, the teachers belonging to this class of instruction should also have 
right to elect their own representatives in the Supreme Council. In this system 
the action of the Government should confine itself to choose the members of the 
Board from the lists so proposed by the electors. It would seem that this .system 
better than any other else would secure to the Council the elements of stability 
and progress, together with the ability and the independence of the members 
fi'om the executive and pohtical influence, without which an efficient direction 
of public education can not be conceived. 

(7.) By this clause the legislation of 1848 is changed, according to which 
Directors and Professors of secondary and normal schools, after three years of 
public service could not be removed from their chairs, without a previous formal 
judgment of the Supreme Council. It appears that henceforth these functiona- 
ries wUl be at the mercy of the executive, the minister not being bound to follow 
the opinion of the Council in respect to their offenses and neglects. It is just, 
however, to add that the dangers which could result from this arbitrary power 
granted to the minister of public instruction would be checked by the weight 
of public opinion, which in fact has the supreme sway in a free country. Yet, 
we confess that the pi-esent provision will not prove the most apt to bestow dig- 
nity, or improve, in any way, the condition either of these teachers or of the 
secondary and normal schools. 

(8.) The normal schools are also called Teachers' Schools, (Scuole Magistrali,) 
and they correspond, in some respects, to the Teachers' Institutes of America. 
They were established with the special object of improving the teachers of ele- 
mentary schools, who had previously obtained the certificate of qualification. 
Afterward, it was ordered that no candidate should receive this certificate, 
who had not frequented the normal schools, and passed a successful examination 
on the matters of their course. For the organization of these schools see ante 
page 13. Though the Teachers' Schools of Sardinia have not as yet reached 
that degree of perfection which might be desired, yet, even in their imperfect 
state, they must be considered of great value for the progress of the popular 
education of the country. Public opinion is greatly in favor of promoting the 
extension of these schools, and of rendering them more and more efiBcient by 
raising them to the highest possible standard. 



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